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Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by 

BAKER & GODWIN, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. 



NEW YORK: 
BAKER & GOD'^YIN, PRINTERS, 

PRINTING-HOUSn SQCARB. 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 



The administration of Cardinal Richelieu, Tvhom (despite all his darker qualities,) Vol- 
taire and History justly consider the true architect of the French monarchy, and the great 
parent of French civilization, is characterized by features alike tragic and comic. A weak 
king — an ambitious favourite ; a despicable conspiracy against the minister, nearly always 
associated with a dangerous treason against the State — these, with little variety of names 
and dates, constitute the eventful cycle through which, with a dazzling ease, and an arrogant 
confidence, the great luminary fulfilled its destinies. Blent together, in startling contrast, 
we see the grandest achievements and the pettiest agents ; — the spy — the mistress — the 
capuchin : — the destruction of feudalism ; the humiliation of Austria ; — the dismemberment 
of Spain. 

Richelieu himself is still what he was in his own day — a man of two characters. If, on 
the one hand, he is justly represented as inflexible and vindictive, crafty and unscrupulous ; 
80, on the other, it cannot be denied that he was placed in times in which the long impunity 
of every license required stern examples — that he was beset by perils and intrigues, which 
gave a certain excuse to the subtlest inventions of self-defense — that his ambition was insep- 
erably connected with a passionate love for the glory of his country — and that, if he was her 
dictator, he was not less her benefactor. It has been fairly remarked by the most impartial 
historians, that he was no less generous to merit than severe to crime — that, in the various 
departments of the State, the Army, and the Church, he selected and distinguished the ablest 
asi^irants — that the wars which he conducted were, for the most part, essential to the preser- 
vation of France, and Europe itself, from the fonnidable encroachments of the Austrian 
House — that, in spite of those wars, the people were not oppressed with exorbitant imposts 
— and that he left the kingdom he had governed, in a more flourishing and vigoroiis state, 
than at any former period of the French history, or at the decease of Louis XI V. 

The cabals formed against the great statesman, were not carried on by the jjatriotism of 
public viii:ue, nor the emulation of equal talent ; they were but court strugglers in which the 
most worthless agents had recourse to the most desperate means. In each, as I have before 
observed, we see combined the twofold attempt to murder the minister, and to betray the 
country. Such, then, are the agents, and such the designs, with which truth, in the Drama, 
as in history, requires us to contrast the celebrated Cardinal ; not disguising his foibles or 
his vices, but not unjust to the grander qualities (especially the love of country,) by which 
they were often dignified, and, at times, redeemed. 

The historical drama is the concentration of historical events. In the attempt to place 
upon the stage the picture of an era, that license with dates and details, which Poetry per- 
mits, and which the highest authorities in the drama of France herself have sanctioned, ha-s 
been, though not unsparingly, indulged. The conspiracy of the Due de BouUlon is, for 
instance, amalgamated with the denouncement of the Day 0/ 2) wpes; and circumstances 
connected with the treason of Ciuq-^Iai-s (whose brilliant youth and gloomy catastrophe 
tend to subvert poetic and historic justice, by seducing us to forget his base ingratitude and 
his perfidious apostacy), are identified with the fate of the earlier favourite Baradas, whose 
sudden rise and as sudden fell passed into a proverb. I ought to add, that the noble ro- 
mance of Cinq-Mars suggested one of the scenes in the fifth act ; and that for the conception 
of some portion of the intrigue connected with De Mauprat and Julie, I am, with great 
alterations of incident, and considerable if not entire reconstruction of character, indebted 
to an early and admirable novel by the author of Picciola, 
London, March, 1839. — 



The Count de Soissons, and the Duke de Bouixlon had a good anny, and they knew 
how to use it : and for the greater certainty, resolved that whilst this army should advance, 
they would assassinate the Cardinal, and stir up Paris to revolt 

The conspirators made a treaty with Spain to introduce her troops into France, and to 
throw everything into confusion by a Regency, which they thought would follow, and by 
which each one hoped to profit. 

Richelieu had lost all his favor, and retained only the advantage of being necessary. 
His good fortune ordained at the last that the plot should be discovered, and that a copv of 
the treaty should fall into his hands. — Voltaike. 



PERSONS OF THE DRAMA. 



Original Caste— C(we;ie Oarden, 1839. 

Louis the Thikteekth, ...... Mr. Elton. 

Gaston, Duke of Orleans (brother to Louis XTTT.), . . Mr. Diddegr. 

Baradas, (Favourite of the King, first gentleman of the Chamber, Pre- 
mier, Ecuyer, &c.), ...... Mr. Warde. 

Cardinal Richelieu, . . . . . • . .Mr. Macready. 

The Chevalier de Mauprat, ..... Mr. Anderson. 

The Sieur de Beringhen, (in attendance on the King,* one of the con- 
spirators), ....... Mr. Vining. 

Joseph, (a Capucliin, Richelieu's confidant), .... Mr. Pheljys. 

HuGUET, (an officer of Richelieu's household-guard— a Spy), . Mr. G. Bennett. 

Francois, ........ Mr. Howe. 

First Courtier, 

Captain of the Archers, 

First, ) 

Second, > Secretaries of State. 

Thii-d, ) 

Governor of the Bastile, ...... Mr. Waldr<m. 

Gaoler, ......... Mr. Ayliffe. 

Courtiers, Pages, Conspirators, Officers, Soldiers, &c. 

Julie de Mortemar, (an Orphan Ward to Richelieu), . . Miss Helen Faudt. 

Marion DE Lorme, (Mistress to Orleans, but in Richelieu's pay), . Miss Charles. 



* Properly speaking, the Bang's First Valet de Chambre, a post of great importance at that time. 



WINTEE GARDEN 



IvrE^\^ YORK 



Lessee and Managke, W- STUART. 

Stage Manager, . J. G. HANLEY. 

Treasurer, H. J. JACKSON. 



MR. EDWIN BOOTH 



ARMAND JEAN DU PLESSIS, 

.Cardinal [One de Riclielieii. 

De Mauprat, ....... Mr. Charles Barron. 

Babadas, ....... Mr. J. H. Taylor. 

Louis XTTT., ....... Mr. W A. Dojmldson, 

Gaston, Duke of Orleans (brother to Louis XHI.), . . 3fr. J. Duell. 

Seeur de BERESfGHEN, in attendance on the King, a conspirator, Mr. W. S. Aiulrews. 
Joseph, a Capuchin, Richelieu's confidant, . 
HuGUET, an Officer of Richelieu's household guard — a Spy, 



Francois, Private Secretary to Riche" 

De Clermont, 

De Sourdiac, . 

longueville, 

De Grajiont, . 

montmorenci, 

Governor op the Bastile, . 

Gaoler op the Bastile, 

First Secretary, 

Second Secretary, 

Third Secretary, 

Captain op Arqtjebussiers, 

Page to de Baradas, 

King's Pages. 

Cardinal's Pages, 



leu, 



Mr. John Dyott. 

Mr. C. Kemble Mason. 

Mr. W. F. Burroughs. 

Mr. C. Blenau. 

Mr. D. Newton. 

Mr. E. Jerome. 

Mr. T. K. Williams.. 

Mr. H. Henry. 

Mr. H. Bland. 

Mr. J. Easton. 

Mr. N. Decker. 

Mr. E. Johnston. 

Mr. W. II. King. 

Mr. H. Hogan. 

Miss Moore. 

Misses Howard, Conndy 

Buell, and Bennett. 
Misses Glover, Jennie and 

Susie Morton. 
Miss Johnson. 
Mrs. M. WilUns. 



Julie de Mortemar, ..... 
Marion de Lorme, Mistress to Orleans but in Richelieu's pay, 
Courtiers. Musqueteers, Arquebussiers, Monks, Cardinal's Guards, King's Guards. Heralds. 

Pages, Servants, etc. 



Scenery by Witham. Music bv Stoepel. 



RICHELIEU: 



OR, 



THE CONSPIRACY. 



ACT I 



FIRST DAY. 



liC'KNE 1. — A room in the house of Marion De 
LoRMF. ; Baradas, Courtiers, the Dvkk o/' Or- 
leans, Marion De Lorme, T>f. Beringhen, 
De Mauprat, playing at dice ; other Courtiers 
looking on. 

Orleans {drinking). Here's to our enterprize ! 

Baradas (glancing at Marion). Hush, Sir ! 

Orleans (aside). Nay, Count. 
You may trust her; she doats on nie ; no house 
So safe as Marion's. 

Baradas. Still, we have a secret, 
And oil and water — woman and a secret — 
Are hostile properties. 

Orleans. Well — Marion, see 
How the play prospers yonder. [Marion goes to 
the next table, loohi on for a few moments, then 
exit. 

Bar. (producing a parchment). I have now 
All the conditions drawn ; it only needs 
Our signatures ; 

Bouillon will join his army with the Spaniard, 
March on to Paris, — there, dethrone the King ; 
You will be Regent ; I, and ye, my Lords 
Form the new Council. So much for the core 
Of our great scheme. 

Orleans. But Richelieii is an Argus ; 
One of his hundred eyes will light upon us. 
And then — good-by to life. 

Bar. To gain the prize 
We must destroy the Argus : — Aj-, my lord. 
The scroll the core, but blood must fill the veins 
01 our design ; while this dispatched to Bouillon, 
Richelieu despatched to Heaven ! The last my 

charge. 
Meet here to-morrow night. You, sir, as first 
In honour and in hope, meanwhile select 
Some trusty knave to bear the scroll to Bouillon ; 
'Midst Richelieu's foes, I'll find some desperate 

hand 
To strike for vengeance, while we stride to power. ' 

Orl. So be it: — to-morrow, midnight. — Come, ' 
my Lords. 

\^Exeunt Orleans, and the Courtiers in his train. 
Those at the othei- table rise, salute Orleans, 
and reseat themselves. 

De Beringhen. Double the stakes. 
De Jfarip. Done. 

De Ber. Bravo ; faith, it shames me 
To bleed a purse already in extremis. 



De Maup. Nay, as you've had the patient 
to yourself 
So long, no other doctor should dispatch it. 

[De Mauprat throws and loses. 

Omnes. Lost ! 1 la, ha — poor De Mauprat ! 

De Ber. 0ne throw more ? 

De Maup. No ; I am bankrupt (pushing gold). 
There goes all except 
My honour and my sword. 

First Gamester. Ay, take the sword 
To Cardinal Richelieu : — he gives gold for steel, 
When worn b}' brave men. 

De Maup. Richelieu ! 

De Ber. {to Baradas). At that name 
He changes color, bites his nether lip. 
Ev'n in his brightest moments whisper " Riche- 
lieu," 
And you cloud all his sunshine. 

Bar. T have mark'd it. 
And I will learn the wherefore. 

De Maup. The Egyptian 
Dissolved her richest jewel in a draught:* 
Would I could so melt time and all its treasures. 
And drain it thus. [Drinking. 

De Ber. Come, gentlemen, what say ye ; 
A walk on the Parade ? 

Omnes. Aj', come, De Mauprat. 

De Maup. Pardon me ; we shall meet again, 
ere night-fall. 

Bar. I'll stay and comfort Mauprat. 

De Ber. Comfort ! — when 
We gallant fellows have run out a fi-iend, 
There's nothing left — except to run him through I 
There's the last act of friendship. 

De Maup. Let me keep 
That favor in reserve ; in all beside 
Your most obedient servant. 

[Exeunt all but De Mauprat and Baradas. 

Bar. You have lost — 
Yet are not sad. 

De Maup. Sad ! — Life and gold have wings. 



* JSpistemon speaks of Cleopatra as a crier of onions in 
tlie other world. " Her Icingdom produced exceeding good 
ones in the opinion of the Israelites. Besides, of the two 
pearls of inestimable price which that queen was owner of, 
she having caused her lover Anthony to swallow one dis- 
solved in vinegar, was going to regale him with the second, 
if she had not been hindered. Perhaps it was by way of 
punishment for this prodigality that she is reduced to sell 
onions— that is, such fruit as the LaPins call imions, a sort 
of onions, as well as pearls." — Rabelais. 



/ 



8 



RICHELIEU: OR, THE CONSPIRACY. 



And must fly one day ;— open then, their cages, 
And wish them merry. 

Bar. You're a strange enigma : — 
Fiery in war and yet to glory lukewarm ; — 
All mirth in action — in repose all gloom — 
Fortune of late has sever' d us — and led 
Me to the rank of Courtier, Count, and favorite, 
You to the titles of the wildest gallant 
And bravest knight in France — are you content? 
No ; — trust in me — some gloom secret 

De Maup. Ay ; — 
A secret that doth haunt me, as of old. 
Men were possessed of fiends ! — Where'er I turn. 
The grave yawns dark before me — I will trust 

you : 
Hating the Cardinal, and beguiled by Orleans, 
You know I join'd the Languedoc revolt — 
Was captured — sent to the Bastile 

Bar. But shared 
The gener.al pardon, which the Duke of Orleans 
Won for himself and all in the revolt, 
Who but obey'd his orders. 

De Maup. Note the phrase : 

" Obeyed his orders." Well, when on my way 
To join the Duke in Languedoc, I (then 
The down upon my lij:) — less man than boy), 
Leading young valours — reckless as myself, 
Seized on the townof Faviaux, and displaced 
The Royal banners for the Rebel. Orleans 
(Never too daring), when I reach'd the camp. 
Blamed me for acting — mark — luithout his orders. 
Upon this quibble, Richelieu razed my name 
Out of the general pardon. 

Bar. Yet released you 
From the Bastile 

De Maup. To call me to his presence 
And thus address me: — "You have seized a 

town 
Of France without the orders of your leader. 
And for this treason, but one sentence — Death." 

Bar. Death! 

De Maup. " I have pity on your youth and 
birth, 
Nor wish to glut the headsman ; join your troop. 
Now on the march against the Spaniards ; — 

change 
The traitor's scafi'old for the soldier's grave ; — 
Your memory stainless — they who shared your 

crime 
Exiled or dead — your king shall never learn it." 

Bar. tender pity — oh most charming pros- 
pect ! 
Blown into atoms by a bomb, or drill'd 
Into a cuUendar by gunshot ! — Well ? — 

De Maup. You have heard if I fought bravely. 
Death became 
Desired as Daphne by the eager Daj^god.* 
Like him I chased the Nymph — to grasp the 

laurel ! 
I could not die ! 

Bar. Poor fellow ! 

De Maup. When the Cardinal 
Review'd the troops — ^his eyes met mine; — he 
frown'd, 



* Daphne was loved and pursued by Apollo ; when on the 
point of being overtaken by him she prayed for aid, and 
was instantly metamorphosed into a laurel tree. 



Summoned me forth — " How's this ?" quoth he : 

" you have shunn'd 
The sword — beware the axe ! 'twill fall one day ! " 
He left me thus--we were recalled to Paris, 
And — you know all ! 

Bar. And, knowing this, why halt you, 
Spell'd by the rattlesnake, — while in the breasts 
Of your firm friends beat hearts, that vow the 

death 
Of your grim tyrant ? — wake ! — Be one of us ; - 
The time invites — the King detests the Cardinal, 
Dares not disgrace — but groans to be deliver'd 
Of that too great a subject— join your friends. 
Free France, and save yourself. 

De Maup. Hush ! Richelieu bears 
A charm'd life : to all who have brav'd his power 
One common end — the block ! 

Bar. Nay, if he live, 
The block your doom. 

De Maup. Better the victim. Count, 
Than the assassin — France requires a Richelieu, 
But does not need a Mauprat. . Truce to this ; — 
All time one midnight, where my thoughts are 

spectres, 
What to me fame ?^what love ? — 
Bar. Yet dost thou love not? 

De Maup. Love ? — I am young 

Bar. And Julie fair ! \^aside'\ It is so. 
Upon the margin of the grave — ^liis hand 
Would pluck the rose that I would win and 

wear ! 
l^Alcmd']. Thou lovest — 

De Maup. [gaily'\ No more ! — 
I love ! — Your breast holds both my secrets ;^ 

Never 
Unbury either ! — Come, while yet we may, 
We'll bask us in the noon of rosy life : — 
Lounge through the gardens, flaunt in the tav- 
erns, — 
Laugh, — game, — drink, — feast : — If so confined 

my days. 
Faith, I'll enclose the nights. Pshaw, not so 

grave ; 
I'm a true Frenchman ! — Vive la bagatelle ! 

[As they are going out enter Htjguet < »?</ 
Arquebimers.'] 

Hug. Messire De Mauprat, — I arrest you ! — 
Follow 
To the Lord Cardinal. 

De Maup. You see, my friend, 
I'm out of my suspense; the tiger's play'd 
Long enough with his prey. Farewell ! Here- 
after 
Say, when men name me, " Adrien de Mauprat 
Lived without hope, and perished without fear !" 
[Exeunt De Mauprat, Huguet, etc. 

Bar. Farewell ! I trust forever ! I design'd thee 
For Richelieu's murderer — but as well as his 

martjT ! 
In childhood you the stronger, and I cursed you ; 
In youth the fairer, and I cursed you still ; 
And now my rival ! — While the name of Julie 
Hung on thy lips, I smiled — for then I saw. 
In my mind's eye, the cold and grinning Death 
Hang o'er thy head the pall ! Ambition, love. 
Ye twin-bora stars of daring destinies. 
Sit in my house of Life ! By the King's aid 



RICHELIEU: OR, THE CONSPIRACY. 




■,v;c_si-i:cR-sc 



I will be Julie's husband iu despite 
Of nay Lord Cardinal. By the King's aid 
I will be minister of France, in spite 
Of my Lord Cardinal ; and then ; what then ? 
The King loves Julie ; feeble prince ! false mas- 
ter ! 
[Producinff and f/azing on the parchment. 
Then, by the aid of Bouillon, and the Spaniard,* 
I will dethrone the King ; and all — ha ! — ha ! 
All, in despite of my Lord Cardinal. 

Scene II. — A room in the Palais Cardinal. 
Richelieu and Joseph. 

Rich. And so you think this new conspiracj- 
The craftiest trap yet laid for the old fox ? — 
Fox!— Well, I like the nickname! What did 

Plutarch 
Say of the Greek Lysander ? 

Joseph. I forget. 

Rich. That where the lion's skin fell short, he 
eked it 
Out with the fox's ! A great statesman, Joseph. 
That same Lysander ? 

Joseph. Orleans heads the traitors. 

Rich. A very wooden head, then ! "Well ? 

Joseph. The favourite, 
Count Baradas — 

Rich. A weed of hasty growth, 
First gentleman of the chamber, — titles, lands. 
And the King's ear ! It cost me six long win- 
ters 

* Olivares, Minister of Spain. 



_^'.•:.•=l 



To mount as high, as in six little moons* 
This painted lizard — But I hold the ladder, 
And when I shake he falls ! What more ? 

Joseph. A scheme 
To make your orphan-ward an instrument 
To aid your foes. 
Your ward has cliarmed the King. 

Rich. Out on you ! 
Have I not, one by one, from such fair shoots, 
Pluck'd the insidious ivy of liis love? 
And shall it creep around my blossoming tree. 
Where innocent thoughts, like happy birds, make 

music 
That spirits in heaven might hear ? 
The King is weak — whoever the King loves 
Must rule the King ; the lady loves another 
The other rules the lady, thus we're balked 
Of our own proper sway. The king must have 
No goddess but the State : — the State ! That's 
Richelieu !f 

* In six months the King made Baradas " First Esquire," 
" First Gentleman of the Chamber," " Captain of St. Ger- 
main," and " Lieut, of the King in Champagne." In still 
less time he was turned out of all, and the ruins of his 
grandeur left him hardly enough to pay his debts. 

His sudden rise and as sudden fall passed into a proverb, 
so that we say, to signify a great fortune dissipated as soon 
as acqiured, in common parlance — "The fortune of Bara- 
das." — A.NQrETIL. 

+ Richelieu did, in fact, so thoroughly associate himself 
with the State, that, in cases where the extreme penalty of 
the law had been incurred, Le Clerc justly observes that he 
was more inexorable to those he had favored — even to his 
own connections— than to other and more indifferent offend- 
ers. As in Venice (where the favorite aphorism was — 
"Venice first, Christianity next,") so with Kichelieu, the 
primary consideration was, "what will be best for the 
country?" On his death-bed he was asked if he forgave 
his enemies ? He replied : " I ne\er had any but those of the 



10 



RICHELIEU: OR, THE CONSPIRACY. 



This is not the worst; Louis, in all 
decorous, 

And deeming you her least compliant guardian, 
Would veil his suit by marriage with his minion. 
Your prosperous foe, Count Baradas ! 

Rich. Ha I ha ! 
I have another bride for Baradas ! 

Joseph. You, my lord ? 

Rich. Ay — more faithful than the love 
Of fickle woman ; when the head lies lowliest. 
Clasping him fondest ; — Sorrow never knew 
So sure a soother, — and her bed is stainless ! 

Enter Francois. 

Fran. Mademoiselle De Mortemar ! 
Rich. Most opportune — admit her. 
In my closet \^Exit Francois. 

You'll find a rosary, Joseph ; ere you tell 
Three hundred beads, I'll summon you. Stay, 

Joseph ; 
I did omit an Ave in my matins, — 
A grievous fault ; atone it for me, Joseph ; 
There is a scourge within ; I am weak, you 

strong ; 
It were but charity to take my sin 
On such broad shoulders. 

Joseph. I ! guilty of such criminal presump 
tion 



As to mistake myself for you — No, never ! 
Think it not ! [^sirfe] Troth, a pleasant invi- 
tation ! \^Exit Joseph. 



Enter Julie de Mortemar. 

JZmsA. "That's my sweet Julie ! 

Julie. \^ placing herself at his fcetl. Are you 
gracious ? 
May I say " Father ? " 

Rich. Now and ever ! 

Julie. Father ! 
A sweet word to an orphan. 

Rich. No ; not orphan 
While Richelieu lives ; thy father loved me well; 
My friend, er'e I had flatterers (now I'm great, 
In other phrase, I'm friendless) — he died young 
In years, not service, and bequeathed thee to 

me; 
And thou shalt have a dowry, girl, to buy 
Thy mate amid the mightiest. Drooping ? — 

sighs ? — 
Art thou not happy at the court ? 

Julie. Not often. 

Rich, [aside']. Can she love Baradas ? Ah ! at 
thy heart 
There's what can smile and sigh, blush and grow 

pale. 
All in a breath ! Thou art admired — art young ; 
Does not his majesty c6mmend thy beauty — 
Ask thee to sing to him ? 

Julie. He's very tiresome. 
Our worthy King. 

Rich. Fie ! Kings are never tiresome 
Save to tlieir ministers. What courtly gal- 
lants 



State." .\nd this was true enougli, for Richelieu and the 
State were one. 



Charm ladies most ? De Sourdiac, Longueville, or 
The favourite Baradas ? 

Julie. A smileless man — I 
Fear and shun him. 

Rich. Yet he courts thee ! 

Julie. Then 
He is more tiresome than his Majesty. 

Rich. Right, girl, shun Baradas. Yet of these 
flowers 
Of France, not one, in whose more honeyed 

breath 
Thy heart hears summer whisper ? 

Enter Huguet. 

Huguet. The Chevalier. 
De Mauprat waits below. 

Julie, [starting up.] De Mauprat ! 

Rich. Hem ! 
He has been tiresome too ! Anon. [Exit Huguet. 

Julie. What doth he ? 
I mean — I — Does your Eminence — that is — 
Know you Messire de Mauprat ? 

Rich. Well ! — and you — 
Has he addressed you often ? 

Julie. Often ! No- 
Nine times : nay, ten ; the last time by the lat- 
tice 
Of the great staircase. [In a melancholy tone.] 
The Court sees him rarely. 

Rich. A bold and forward royster ! 

Julie. He ? nay, modest. 
Gentle and sad, methinks. 

Rich. Wears gold and azure ? 

Julie. No, sable. 

Rich. So you note hie colours, Julie ? 
Shame on you child, look loftier. By the mass, 
I hare business with this modest gentleman. 

Julie. You're angry with poor Julie. There's 
no cause. 

Rich. No cause — you hate my foes ? 

Julie. I do ! 

Rich. Hate Mauprat ? 

Julie. Not Mauprat. No, not Adrien, father. 

Rich. Adrien ! 
Familiar ! Go, child ; no, — not that way ; wait 
In the tapestry chamber; I will join you, — ^go. 

Julie. His brows are knit ; I dare not call him 
father ! 
But I must speak. Your Emiuence — 

Rich, [sternly.] AVell, girl ! 

Julie. Nay, 
Smile on me — one more smile ; there, now I'm 

happy. 
Do not rank Mauprat with your foes ; he is not, 
I know he is not ; he loves France too well. 

Rich. Not rank De Mauprat with my foes ? 
So be it. 
I'll blot him from that list. 

Julie. That's my own father. [Exit Julie. 

Rich. [Ringing a small bell on the fable.] 
Huguet ! 

Enter Huguet. 

De Mauprat struggled not nor murmur' d ? 

Hug. No : proud and passive. 

Rich. Bid him enter. Hold : 
Look that he hide no weapon. Humph, despair 



RICHELIEU: OR, THE CONSPIRACT. 



11 



Makes victims sometimae victors. When he has 

enter'd, 
Glide round iinseen ; place thyself yonder [point- 

iiig to a book-case \\ watch him; 
If he show violence — (let me see thy carbine ; 
So, a good weapon ;) if he play the lion, 
Why — the dog's death. 

[Exit Hl'guet; Richelieu se«te himself at the fable, 
and slowly arranges the papers before him. 
Enter De ilAurR.Ax preceded by Htiguet, who 
then retires. 

Rich. Approach, sir. Can you call to mind 
the hour, 

Now three years since, when in this room, me- 
thinks, 

Your presence honoured me ? 
De Maup It is, my lord. 

One of my most — 

Rich, [dryly ] Delightful recollections.* 

De Maup. [dside] St. Denis ! doth he make 

a jest of axe and headsman ? • 

Rich, [■■iternh/.] I did then accord you 

A uiercj' ill requited. 

Messire de Mauprat, 

Doom'd to sure death, how hast thou since con- 
sumed 

The time allotted thee for serious thought 

And solemn penance? 

De Maup. [embarrassed.] The time, my lord ? 
Rich. Is not the question plain ? I'll answer 
for thee. 

Thou hast sought nor priest nor shrine ; no 
sackcloth chafed 

Thy delicate flesh. The rosary and the death's 
head 

Have not, with pious meditation, purged 

Earth from the carnal gaze. What thou hast not 
done 

Brief told; what done, a volume ! Wild debauch. 

Turbulent riot: — for tlie morn the dice-box — 

Noon claim'd the duel — and the night the was- 
sail : 

These, your most holy pure preparatives 

For death and judgment ! Do I wrong you, sir ? 
De Maup. I was not alwaj-s thus : — if chang'd j 
my nature, i 

Blaine that which changed my fate. Alas, my 
lord, 

Were you accursed with that which you in- 
flicted — 

By bed and board, dogg'd by one ghastly 
spectre 

The while within you, youth beat high, and life 

Grew lovelier fi'om the neighboring frown of 
death— 

The heart no bud, nor fruit — save in those seeds 

Most worthless, which spring up, bloom, bear, 
and wither 

In the same hour. Were this your fate, per- 
chance. 



* There are ujany anecdotes of the irony, often so terriblei 
|n which Richelieu indulged. But he had a love for humour 
in its more hearty and genial shape. He would send for 
Boisrobert "to make him laugh," — and grave rainistersand 
magnates waited in the ante-room, while the gi-eat Cardinal 
listened and responded to the sallies of the lively wit. 



You would have err'd like me ! 

Rich. I might, like you. 
Have been a brawler and a reveller ; — not, 
Like you, a trickster and a thief, — 

De Maup. [advancing threateningly.] Lord 

Cardinal ! 
Unsay those words ! — 

[HuGUET deliberately raises his carbine.] 
Rich, [waving his hand.] Not quite so quick, 

friend Huguet ; 
Messire de Mauprat is a patient man, 
And he can wait ! — 

You have outrun your foi-tune , 
I blame you not that you would be a beggar — 
Each to his taste ! — but I do charge you, sir. 
That being beggar'd, you would coin false moneys 
Out of that crucible, called debt. To live 
On means not yours — be brave in silks and laces, 
Gall.ant in .steeds, splendid in banquets; — all 
Not yoMj's — ungiven, uninhcrited — unpaid for; 
This is to be a trickster ; and to filch 
Men's art and labor, which to them is wealth, 
Life, daily bread, — quitting all scores with — 

" Friend, 
You're troublesome ! " Why this, forgive me. 
Is what — when done with a less dainty grace — 
Plain folks call "Theft/" You owe ten thousand 

pistoles, 
Minus one crown, two Hards ! 

De Maup. [aside.] Tlie old conjurer ! 
Rich. This is scandalous. 
Shaming your birth and blood. I tell you, sir, 
That you must pa}- your debts — 
De Maup. Witii all my heart, 
My Lord. Where shall I borrow, then, the 

money? 
Rich, [askle and laughing.] A humourous dare- 
devil — The very man 
To suit my purpose — ready, frank, and bold ! 
Adrien de Mauprat, men have called me cruel ; 
I am not ; I am just ! — I found Fraiu'O rf^nt 

asunder, — 
The rich men despots, and the poor banditti ; — 
Sloth in the mart, and schism within the temple ; 
Brawls festering to Rebellion ; and weak Laws 
Rotting away with rust in antique sheaths — 
I have re-created France ; and from the ashes 
Of the old feudal and decrepid carcass. 
Civilization on her luminous wings 
Soars, — phoenix-like, to Jove ! — what was my 

art? 
Genius, some say, — some Fortune, — Witchcraft, 

some; 
Not so ; my art was Justice ! Force and fi-aud 
Misname it cruelty — you shall confute them ! 
My champion you ! You met me as your foe. 
Depart my friend — you shall not die — France 

needs you. 
You shall wipe off all stains, be rich, be honour' d. 
Be great — [De Mauprat /a^/s on /jw knee] — I ask, 

sir, iu i-eturn, this hand, 
To gift it with a bi'ide, whose dower shall match, 
Yet not exceed her beauty. 

De Maup. I, my lord — [Hesitating. 

I have no wish to marry. 

Rich. Surely, sir. 
To die were worse. 

De Maup. Scarcely ; the poorest coward 



12 



RICHELIEU: OR, THE CONSPIRACY. 



Must die, — but knowingly to march to mar- 
riage — 
My lord, it asks the courage of a lion ! 

Rich. Traitor, thoii triflest with uie ! I know 

all ! 
Thou hast dared to love my ward — my charge. 
De Maup. As rivers 
May love the sunlight — basking in the beams, 
And hurrying on ! — 

Rich. Thou hast told her of thy love ! 
Be Maup. j\Ij' lord, if I had dared to love a 
maid, 
Lowliest in France, I would not so have wrong'd 

her, 
As bid her link rich life and virgin hope 
"With one, the deathman's gripe might, from her 

side. 
Pluck at the nuptial altar. 

Rich. I believe thee ; 
Yet, since she knows not of thy love, renounce 

her ; 
Take life and fortime with another ! — Silent? 
De Maup. Your fate has been one triumph. 
You know not 
How bless' d a thing it was in my dark hour 
To nurse one sweet thought you bid me banish. 
Love hath no need of words ; — nor less within 
That holiest temple — the heaven-builded soul — 
Breathes the recorded vow. Base knight, — false 

lover 
Were he, who barter'd all that brighten' d grief, 
Or sanctified despair, for life and gold. 
Revoke your mercy ; I prefer the fate 
I look'd for ! 

Rich. Huguet, to the tapestry chamber 
Conduct your prisoner. 
[7b Mauprat.'] You ^A\\ there behold 
The executioner : — your doom be private — 
And Heaven have mercy on you ! 

De Maup. When I'm dead, 
TeU her I loved her. 

Rich. Keep such follies, sir, 
For fitter ears ; — go — 

Be Maup. Does he mock me ? 

\Ezeunt Be Mauprat and Huguet. 
Rich. Joseph 
Come forth. 

Entet- Joseph. 

Methinks your cheek has lost its rubies ; 
I fear you have been too lavish of the flesh ; 
The scourge is heavy. 

Joseph. Pray you, change the subject. 

Rich. You good men are so modest ! Well, 
to business. 

00 instantly — deeds — ^notaries! — bid my stew- 

ards 
Arrange my house by the Luzembourg — ??!?/ house 
No more ! — a bridal present to my ward, 
Who weds to-morrow. 

Joseph. Weds, with whom ? 

Rich. De Mauprat. 

Joseph. Penniless husband? 

Rich. Bah ! the mate for beauty 
Should be a man and not a money-chest ! 
When her brave sire lay on his bed of death, 

1 vowed to be a father to his Julie ; 



And so he died — the smile upon his lijis ' — 
And when I spared the life of her joung lover, 
Methought I saw that smile again ! Who else, 
Look you, in all the court — who else so well. 
Brave, or supplant the favourite ; balk the king — 
Bafiie their schemes? I have tried him : he has 

honour and courage. 
Besides, he has taste, this-^Mauprat : When mj'^ 

play was 
Acted to dull tiers of lifeless gapers,* 
Who had no soul for poetry, I saw him 
Aj^plaud in the proper places ; trust me, Joseph, 
He is a man of uncommon promise ! 
Josej)h. And yet your foe. 
Rich. Have I not foes enow ? 
Great men gain doubly when they make foes 

friends. 
Remember my grand maxims ! — First emplov 
All methods to conciliate, f 
Josqjh. Failing these ? 

Rich, [fiercely.] All means to crush; as with 
the opening and 
Clenching of the little hand, I will 
Crush the small venom of these stinging 

courtiers. 
So, so, we've baflSed Baradas. 

Joseph. And when 
Check the conspiracy ? 

Rich. Check, check ! Full way to it. 
Let it bud, ripen, flant i' the day, and burst 
To fruit — the Dead Sea's fruit of ashes ; ashes 
Which I will scatter to the winds. 

Go, Joseph ; 
When you return I have a feast for you— 
The last great act of my great play; the 

verses, 
Methinks , are fine. 
Come, j'ou shall hear the verses now. 

Joseph, [a^ide.'] Worse than the scourge ! 
Strange that so great a statesman 
Should be so bad a poet. 
Rich. What dost say ? 

Joseph. Tliat it is strange so great a statesman 
should 
Be so sublime a poet.:} 



* The Abbe Arnaud tells us that the queen was a little 
avenged on the Cardinal by the ill-success of the tragic 
comedy of Mirame— more than suspected to be bis own- 
though presented to the world under the foster name of Des- 
marets. Its representation (says Pelisson), cost him 300 OuO 
crowns. He was so transported out of himself by the per- 
formance, that at one time he thrust his person half out of 
his box to show himself to the assembly ; at another time he 
imposed silence on the audience that they might not lose 
the still more beautiful passages. 

He said afterwards to Desmarets: "After all the French 
will never have any taste— they were not pleased with 
Mirame!" 

Arnaud says pithily: "We are not able, then, to have 
any other satisfaction for the offences of a man who was 
master of all, and formidable to the whole world " Never- 
theless, bis style in prose, though not devoid of the pedan- 
tic affectations of the time, often rises into very noble elo- 
quence. 

t This principle, as Tialart notices, is a guide to Riche- 
lieu s conduct in many circumstances of his career To those 
lords whose pretensions either their birth or merit permit- 
ted him torecognize, he had a system of according more 
than their rights justified, or their hopes anticipated But 
this, once accorded, if instead of recognizing his services 
in retuin, they rose againt him, he handled them without 
mercy. — Anquetil. 

.,7 ".*«",?""*''* '^fanatic— so much a knare— founder of 
the Rehgreiiees ' of Calvary— a maker of verses." Thus 



RICHELIEU: OR, THE CONSPIRACY. 



13 



My lord, 

The deeds, the notaries 1 

Rich. True, I pity you ; 
But business first, then pleasure. \^Ezit Joseph. 

Rich. {.Seating himself, and reading.'\ Ah, sub- 
lime I 

Enter De Maupeat and Julie. 

De Maup. Oh speak, my lord ! I dare not 
think you mock me. 
And yet 

Rich. Hush, hush — this line miast be consid- 
ered! 

Juli^. Are we not both your children ? 

Rich. What a couplet ! 

How now ! Oh, sir — you live ! 

De Maup. Why, no, methinks, 
Elysium is not life. 

Julie. He smiles ! you smile, 
Mj' father ! From my heart for ever, now, 
I'll blot the name of orphan ! 

Rich. Rise, my children, 
For ye are mine — mine both ; and in your sweet 

speaks Voltaire of Father Joseph. His talents, and influence 
with Richelieu, grossly exagerated in his own day, aro now 
rightly estimated. He was, in fact, an indefatigable man ; 
carrying with his enterprises the activity — the suppleness — 
the stubbornness necessary to make them succeed. — Au- 

.JURTIL. 

He wrote a Latin poem, called " La Turciade," in which 
he sought to e.xcite tlie kingdoms of Christians against the 
Turks. But the inspiration of Tyrtems was denied to Father 
Joseph. 

His hair was red, but for fear of displeasing the King, wlio 
detested red hair, he used leaden combs which gave it a 
dark color. 



And young delight, your love — (life's first-born 

glory,) 
My own lost youth breathes musical ! 

De Maup. I'll seek 
Temple and priest henceforward : were it but 
To learn Heaven's choicest blessings. 

Rich. Thou shalt seek 
Temple and priest right soon ; the morrow's sun 
Shall see across these barren thresholds pas? 
The fairest bride in Paris. Go, my children ; 
Even / loved once.* Be lovers while ye niay. 
How is it with you, sir ? You bear it bravely : 
You know it asks the courage of a lion. 

[Exeunt Dc Mauprat and Julie. 
Oh, Godlike power ! Wo, Rapture, Penury, 

Wealth, 
Marriage, and Death, for one infirm old man 
Through a great emjiire to dispense — withhold — 
As the will whispers ! And shall things, like motes 
That live in my daylight ; lackeys of court wages, 
Dwarfd starvelings ; manikins, upon whose 

shoulders 
The burthen of a province were a load 
More heavy than the globe on Atlas — ca.st 
Lots for my robes and sceptre '? France, I love 

thee ! 
All earth shall never pluck tine from my heart ! 
My mistress, France ; my wedded wife, sweet 

France ; 
Who shall proclaim divorce for thee and me ! 

[Exit Richelieu 



* Richelieu was commonly supposeil, though T cannot say 
I flnil much evidence for it, to have been too presuming In 
an interview with Anne of Austria (the Queen), and to have 
bitterly resented the contempt she expressed for him. 



EJfD OF ACT I. 



ACT II 



SECOND DAY. 



•Scene I. — A Splendid Apartment in Mauprat's : Thy likeness, ere the marriage moon hath waned 



neio House. 

Enter B.\radas. 

Bar. Mauprat's new home : too splendid for a 
■ soldier ! 
But o'er his floors — the while I stalk — methinks 
My shadow spreads gigantic to the gloom 
The old rude towers of the Bastile cast far 
Along the smoothness of the jocund day. 
Well, thou hast 'scaped the fierce caprice of 

Richelieu ! 
But art thou farther from the headsman, fool ? 
Thy secret I have whisper'd to the king : 
Thy marriage makes the king thy foe. Thou 

stand' st 
On the abyss — and in the pool below 
I see a ghastly, headless phantom mirror'd : 



Meanwhile — meanwhile- 
wedded. 
Thou art not wived ! 



-ha, ha ! if thou art 



Enter Mauprat {splendidly dressed). 

De Maup. Was ever fate like mine ? — 
So blessed, and yet so wretched ! 

Bar. Joy, De Mauprat ! 
Why, what a brow, man, for your wedding-day ! 

De Maup. Jest not. Distraction ! 

Bar. What ! your wife a shrew 
Already ? Courage, man — the common lot ! 

De Maup. Oh, that she were less lovely, or 
less loved ! 

Bar. Riddles again ! 

De Maup. You know what chanced between 
The Cardinal and myself. 



14 



Bar. This morning brought 
Tour letter— faith, a strange account ! I laugh d 
And wept at once for gladness, 

De Maup. We were wed 
At noon, the right performed, came hither- 
scarce 
Arrived, when 

Bar. Well ! , , , 

De Maup, Wide flew the doors, and lo ! 
Messire de Beringhen, and this epistle ! 

Bar. 'Tis the king's hand!— the royal seal ! 

Be Maup. Read — read ! 

Bar. [reading.'] " Whereas Adrien de Mauprat, 
Colonel and Chevalier in our armies, being already 
guilty of high treason, by the seizure of the town 
of Faviaux, has presumed, without our knowl- 
edge, consent, or sanction, to connect himseK by 
marriage with Julie de Mortemar, a wealthy 
orphan, attached to the person of Her Majesty, 
without our knowledge or consent. We do hereby 
proclaim and declare the said marriage contrary 
to law. On penalty of death, Adrien de Mauprat 
will not communicate with the said Julie de Mor- 
temar by word or letter, save in the presence of 
■our faithful servant, the Sieur de Beringhen, and 
then with such respect and decorum as are due 
to a Demoiselle attached to the Court of France, 
until such time as it may suit our royal pleasure 
to confer with the Holy Church on the formal 
annulment of the marriage, and with our Council 
on the pimishment to be awarded to Messii-e de 
Mauprat, who is cautioned, for his ov/n sake, to 
preserve silence as to our injunction, more espe- 
cially to Mademoiselle de Mortemar. Given 
'inder our hand and seal at the Louvre. 

"LOUIS." 

Bar. [returning the letter. 1 Amazemeut ! Did 
not Richelieu say, the king 
Kiiew not your crime ? 

De Maup. He said so. 

p ,„. T>«-, ,1-, ■HTn,,,-,,-^* 

- ■■ • - •'-•■ — " -'■ i '-- 
See you the snare, the vengeance worse than 

death 
Of which you are the victim ? 

De Maup. Ha ! 
Snare — vengeance — 
Worse than death — be plainer. 

Bar. What so clear ? 
Richelieu has but two passions ! 

De Maup. Richelieu ! 

Bar. Yes. 
Ambition and revenge — in you both blended. 
First for ambition — Julie is his ward. 
Innocent — docile — pliant to his will — 
He placed her at the court — foresaw the rest — 
The King loves Julie ! 

De Maup. Merciful Heaven ! The King ! 

Bar. Such Cupids lend new plumes to Riche- 
lieu's wings : 
But the court etiquette must give such Cupids 
The veil of Hymen — Hymen but in name). 
He looked abroad — foimd his foe — thus served 
Ambition — by grandeur of his ward. 
And vengeance— by dishonoiu- to his foe ? 

De Maup. Prove this. 

Bar. You have the proof — the royal Letter: — 
Your strange exemption from the general pardon. 
Known but to me and Richelieu ; can you doubt 



KICHELIEU: OR, THE CONSPXRACY. 

Your friend to acquit your foe ? The truth i« 

glaring — 
Richelieu alone could tell the princely lover 
The tale which sells your life,— or buys your 



honour ! 
De Maup. I see it all !— Mock pardon— hurried 
nuptials ! , ,. -i 

False bounty !— all !— the serpent of that smile : 
Oh ! it stings home ! 

Bar. You shall crush his malice : 
Our plans are sure — Orleans is at our head ; 
We meet to-night ; join us and with us triumph 
De Maup. Tonight /—Oh heaven !— my mar- 
riage night ! — Revenge ! 
But the King ? but Julie ? 
Bar. The King? infirm in health, in mind 
more feeble. 
Is but the playing of a Minister's will. 
Were Richelieu dead, his power were mine ; and 

Louis 
Soon should forget his passion and your crime. 
But wither now ? 

De Maup. I know not ; I scarce hear thee ; 
A little while for thought : anon I'll join thee ; 
But now, all air seems tainted, and I loathe 
The face of man ! 

[Exit De Ma%ip-at through the gardens. 
Bar. Start from the chase, my prey \ 
But as thou speed'st, the hell-hounds of Revenge 
Pant in thy track and dog thee down. 

Enter De Beringhen, a mouth full, a napkin in 
his hand. 

De Ber. Chevalier, 
Your cook's a miracle, — what, my Host gone ? 
Faith, Count, my oflice is a post of danger ; 
A fiery fellow, Mauprat ! touch and go, — 
Match and saltpeter, — ^pr-r-r-r ! 

Bar. You 
wni V. l•■^^'^'l<^ri oi-n lour;. The Mng resolves 
To call the bride to court this day. 

De Ber. Poor Mauprat ! 
Yet, since you love the lady, why so careless 
Of the King's suit ! 

Bar. Because the lady's virtuous, 
And the king timid. Ere he win the suit 
He'll lose the crown, — the bride will be a 

widow — 
And I — the Richelieu of the Regent Orleans. 
De Ber. Is Louis still so chafed against the 
Fox, 
From snatching your fair dainty from the Lion ? 
Bar. So chafed that Richelieu totters. Yes. 
the King, 
Is half conspiring against the Cardinal. 
Enough of this. I've found the man we wanted, — 
The man to head the hands that murder Riche 

lieu, — 
The man, whose name the synonym for daring. 
De Bar. He must mean me I No, Count, I am, 
I own, 
A valiant dog — but still — 
Bar. Whom can I mean 
But Mauprat? Mark, to-night we meet at 

Marion's, 
There shall we sign : thence send this scroll 
[sfiovring it~\ to Bouillon. 



RICHELIEU: OR, THE CONSPIRACY. 



15 



You're in that secret [^affectionately^ one of our 
new Council. 
De Ber. But to admit the Spaniard — France's 
foe, 
Into the heart of France, — dethrone the king ! 
It looks like treason, and I smell the headsman. 

Bar. Oh, sir, too late to falter ; when we meet 
We must arrange the separate, coarser scheme. 
For Richelieu's death. Of this despatch De 

Mauprat 
Must nothing learn. He only bites at vengeance. 
And he would start from treason. We must post 

him 
Without the door at Marion's — as a sentry 
[Aside'] — So, when his head is on the block — 

his tongue 
Dannot betray our most august designs ! 
Dc Ber. I'll meet you, if the king can spare 
me. — [.4«</e]. — No ! 
[ am too old a goose to play with foxes, 
['11 roost at home. Meanwhile, in the next room, 
There's a delicious pate, let's discuss it. 
Bar. Pshaw ! a man filled with a sublime am- 
bition 
laH no time to discuss your pfttes. 

De Bar. Pshaw. 
\jid a man filled with a sublime p4t6. 
las no time to discuss ambition. — Oad, 
. have the best of it ! 
Bar. All is made clear ; Mauprat must murder 
Richelieu — 
Me for that crime : — I shall console his Julie — 
This will reach Bouillon ! — from the wrecks of 
France 
shall carve out — who knows — perchance a 
throne ! 
Vll in despite of my Lord Cardinal. 

Enter De Mauprat. 

De Mauprat. Speak ! can it be ? — Methought 
that from the terrace 

saw the carriage of the King — and Julie ! 
io ! — no ! — my frenzj- peoples the void air 
'Vith its own phantoms ! 

Bar. Nay, too true. — Alas ! 
N&a ever lightning swifter, or more blasting, 
Than Richelieu's forked guile ? 

DeMaup. I'll to the Louvre 

Bar. And lose all hope ! The Louvre ! — the 
sure gate 
:o the Bastile ! 

Dc Mnup. The King. 

jjar. Is but the wax, 
(Vhich Richelieu stamps ? Break the malignant 

seal, 
Vnd 1 will raze the print. Come, man, take 

heart ! 

Jer virtue well could brave a sterner trial 
Thau a few hours of cold imperious courtship. 
vVere Richelieu dxist — no danger ! 

De Maup. Ghastly Vengeance ! 
To thee and thine august and solemn sister, 
The unrelenting Death ! I dedicate 
The blood of Armand Richelieu ! When Dis- 
honor 

leaches our hearths. Law dies and Murder takes 
The angel shape of Justice ! 



Bar. Bravely said ! 
At midnight, Marion's ! — Nay, I cannot leave 
thee 

To thoughts that 

De Maup. Speak not to me ! — I am yours ! 
But speak not ! There's a voice within my soul. 
Whose cry could drown the thunder. Oh I if men 
Will play dark sorcery with the heart of man. 
Let them, who raise the spell, beware the fiend ! 

Exeunt. 

ScKNE II. — A room in the Palais Cardinal (as the 
frst Act. ) 

Richelieu and Joseph. 

Francois, writing at a table. 

Joseph. Yes ; — Huguet, taking his accustom' d 
round, — 
Disguised as some plain burgher, — heard these 

rufflers 
Quoting your name : — he listen' d — " Pshaw " 

said one, 
" We are to seize the Cardinal in his palace 
To-morrow ! " — " How ? " the other ask'd ; — 

" You'll hear 
The whole design to-night : the Duke of Orleans 
And Bat-adas have got the map of action 
At their fingers' end" — "So be it," quoth the 

other, 
" 1 will be there, — Marion de Lorme's — at mid- 
night : " 
Rich. I have them, man, I have them ! 
Jos. So they saj- 
Of jou, nn- lord ; — believe me, that their plans 
Are mightier than you deem. You must employ 
Means no less vast to meet them ! 

Rich. Bah ! in policy 
We foil gigantic dangers, not by giants. 
But dwarfi. The statues of otir stately for- 
tune 
Are sculptured by the chisel — not the axe ?* 
Ah ! were I younger — by the knightly heart 
That beats between these priesth* robes, f I would 
Have pastime with these cut-throats I Yea, aa 

when. 
Lured to the ambush of the expecting foe, 
I clove my pathway through the plumed sea ! 
Reach me your falchion, Francois — not that 

bauble 
For carpet warriors — yonder — such a blade 
As old Charles Martel might have wielded — 

when 
He drove the Saracen from France. 



• Richelieu not only employed the lowest, but would often 
consult men commonly esteemed the dullest. " lie said 
that in matters of the greatest importance, he had found by 
experiments, that the least wise often suggested the best 
expedients." — Le Clerc. 

t Both Richelieu and Joseph were originally intended for 
the profession of arms. Joseph had served before he obeyed 
the spiritual inspiration to become a capuchin. The death 
of his brother opened to Richelieu the Bishopric of Luron ; 
but his milltarv propensities were as strong as his priestly 
ambition. I need scarcely add that the Cardinal, during 
his brilliant campaign in Italy, marched at the head of hia 
troops in complete armour. It was under his administration 
that occurs the last example of proclaiming war by the chir- 
alric defiance of herald and cartel. 



16 

(FRAN90IS brings him one of the long two-handed 
swords worn in the middle ages.) 
With this. 
I, at Rochelle, did hand to hand engage 
The stalwart Englisher*— no mongrels, boy, 
Those island mastiffs ! — mark the notch, a deep 

one 
His casque made here, — I shore him to the waist ! 
A toy — a feather, then ! ( Tries to wield it. 

You see a child could 
Slay Richelieu now. 

Fran. But now, at your command 
Are other weapons good my lord. 
Rich, {who has seated himself as to write, lifts 
the pen.) 
True, THIS ! 
Beneath the rule of men entirely great 
The pen is mightier than the sword. B ehold 
The arch enchanter's wand — itself a nothing ! 
But taking sorcery from the master hand 
To paralyze the Caesars, and to strike 
The loud earth breathless ! Take away the 

swoi'd — 
States can be saved without it ! 

{Looking on the clock. 
'Tis the hour — 
Retire, sir. {Exit Francois. 

A knock, Joseph opens the door. 

Enter Marion de Lorme. 

Joseph {amazed). Marion de Lorme ! 

Jtich. Hist ! Joseph 
Keep guard. 

{Joseph retires. 
My faithful Marion ! 

Marion. Good my lord. 
They meet to-night in my poor house. The Duke 
Of Orleans heads them. 

Hich. Yes; go on. 

Marion. His Highness 
Much question'd if I knew some brave, discreet. 
And vigilpnt man, whose tongue could keep a 

secret, 
And who had those twin qualities for service. 
The love of gold, the hate of Richelieu. 

Bich. You 

Marion. Made answer, " Yes, my brother ; — 
bold and trusty : 
Whose faith, my faith could pledge ; " the Duke 

then bade me 
Have him equipp'd and arm'd — well mounted — 

ready 
This night to part for Italy. 

Mich. Aha ! — 
Has Bouillon too turn'd traitor ? — So methought ! 
What part of Italy ? 

Marion. The Piedmont frontier, 
Where Bouillon lies encamp'd. 



RICHELIEU: OR, THE CONSPIRACY. 



* Richelieu valued himself much on his personal activity, 
for his vanity was as universal as his ambition. A noble- 
man at the house of Grammont one day found him employed 
in j limping, and, with all the mvoir v irre of a Frenchman 
and a courtier, offered to jump against him. He suffered 
the Cardinal to jump higher, and soon after found himself 
rewarded by an appointment. Yet, strangely enough, this 
vanity did not lead to a patronage injurious to the state; 
for never before in France was ability made so essential a 
requisite in promotion. He was lucky in finding the clever- 
est fellows among his adroitest flatterers. 



Hich. Now there is danger ! 
Great danger ! If he tamper with the Spaniard, 
And Louis list not to my council, as. 
Without sure proof he will not, France is lost ! 
What more ? 

Marion. Dark hints of some design to seize 
Your person in your palace. Nothing clear — 
His Highness trembled while he spoke ; — the 

words 
Did choke each other. 

Rich. So ! Who is the brother 
You recommended to the Duke ? 

Marion. Whoever 
Your eminence may father ! 

Rich. Darling Marion !* 

\^Goes to the table, and returns with a purse. 
There — pshaw — trifle ! What an eye you have ! 
And what a smile, child ! — Ah you fair perdi- 
tion — 
'Tis well I'm old ! 

Marion {aside and seriously). What a great 
man he is ! 

Rich. You are sure they meet ? — the hour ? 

Marion. At midnight. 

Rich. And 
You will engage to give the Duke's despatch, 
To whom I send ? 

Marion. A.J, marry ? 

Rich. {Aside,) Huguet? No; 
He will be wanted elsewhere. Joseph ? — zeal- 
ous. 
But too well known — too much the elder brother. 
Mauprat ? — alas ! his wedding day ! 
Francois ? — the Man of Men ! — unnoted — young : 
Ambitious — {goes to the door) — Francois ! 

Enter Francois. 

Rich. Follow this fair lady . 
(Find him the suiting garments, Marion ;) take 
My fleetest steed ; arm thyself to the teeth ; 
A packet will be given you, with orders. 
No matter what ! The instant that your hand 
Closes upon it — clutch it, like your honour. 
Which death alone can steal, or ravish ; set 
Spurs to j'our steed — be breathless, till yow 

stand 

Again before me. Stay, sir ! You will find mt 
Two short leagues hence — at Rouelle, in mj 

castle. 
Young man, be blithe ! for — note me — from tht^ 

hour 
I grasp that packet, think your guardiar star 
Rains fortune on you ! 
Fran. If I fail— 
Rich. Fail— 

* Voltaire openly charges Richelieu with being the love 
of Marion de Loi-me, whom the great poet of France, Victo 
Hugo, has sacrificed History to adorn with qualities whicl 
were certainly not added to her personal charms. — She wa 
not less perfidious than beautiful. Le Clerc properly refute 
the accusation of Voltaire, against the discretion of Riehe 
ileu; and says, very justly, that if the great minister hac 
the frailties of human nature, he learnt how to veil them 
— at least when he obtained the scarlet. In earlier life h. 
had been prone to gallantries which a little prepossessed thi 
King) who was formal and decorous, and threw a singula 
coldness into the few attachments he permitted to himself 
against the aspiring intriguer: But these graver occupa 
tions died away in the engagement of higher pursuits or o 
darlter passions. 



RICHELIEU: OR, THE CONSPIRACY. 



17 



In the lexicon of youth, which fate reserves 
For a bright uiauhood, there is no such word 
As— fail / — You will instruct him further, Ma- 
rion. 
Follow her — but at distance : — speak not to her, 
Till you are housed ; — Farewell, boy ! Never say 
'• Fail" again. 
Fran. I will not ! 
Rich. That's my young hero ! 

[Exeunt Frangois and Marion. 
Rich. So, they would seize my person in this 
place ? 
I cannot guess their scheme : — but my retinue 
Is liere too large ! — a single traitor could 
Strike impotent the faith of thousands ; — Joseph 
Art sure of Huguet? — Think — we hang'd his 
father ! 
Joaeph. But you have bought his son ; — heap'd 

favours on him ! 
Rich. Trash! — favours past — thafs nothing! 
In his hours 
)f confidence with you, has he named the favours 
To come he counts on ? 

Joseph. Yes — a Colonel's rank, 
Vnd Letters of Nobility. 
Rich. What, Huguet? 

Here Huguet enters as to address the Cardinal, 
who does not perceive him.) 

Huguet. My own name soft ! [Hides himself. 

Rich. My bashful Huguet — that can never be ! 
.Ve have mm not the less — \\e'\l promise it / 
Ind see the king withholds ! — Yes — 
iV'e'U count on Huguet ! 

Huff net. To thy cost, deceiver I 

Rich. You are right, this treason 
Assumes a fearful aspect : but once crush'd, 
its very ashes shall manure the soil 
Df power ; and ripen such full sheaves of great- 
ness. 
That all the summer of my fate shall seem 
Fruitless beside the autumii ! 



(RvGVET^tlmnces.) 

Huguet. My Lord Cardinal, 
Your eminence bade me seek you at this hour. 

Rich. Did I ? — True, Huguet. — So— You over- 
heard 
Strange talk amongst these gallants. Snares and 

traps 
For Richelieu? — Well — we'll balk them ; let me 

think — 
The men at arras you head — how many ? 

Huguet. Twenty,* 
My Lord. 

Rich. All trusty ? 

Huguet. Yes, for ordinary 
Occasions — if for great ones, I would change 
Three-fourths at least. 

Rich. Ay, what are great occasions ? 

* The guard attached to Richlieu's person was, in the first 
instance, fifty aiquebussiers, afterward increased to two 
companies of cavalry and two hundred musqueteers. Hu- 
guet is, therefore, to be considered merely as the lieutenant 
of a small detachment of this little army. In point of fact, 
the subdivisions of the guard took it in turn to serve 



Huguet. Great bribes ! 

Rich. {To Joseph.) Good lack, he knows some 
paragons 
Superior to great bribes f 

Huguet. True gentlemen. 
Who h*ve transgress'd the laws — and value life. 
And lack not gold ; your eminence alone 
Can grant them pardon. Frgo you can trust 
them ! 

Rich. Logic. So be it — let this honest twftity 
Be armed and mounted. 

Rich. They do not strike till morning, 
Yet 1 will shift the quarter — bid the grooms 
Prepare the litter — I will hence to Ruelle 
While daylight last — and one hour after midnight 
You and your twenty saints shall seek me thither! 
You're made to rise ! You are, sir ; — eyes of lynx 
Ears of the stag, a footfall like the snow ; 
You are a valiant fellow ; — yea, a trusty, 
Religious, exemplary, incorrupt. 
And precious jewel of a fellow, Huguet I 

If I live long enough, — ay, mark my words 

If I live long enough, you'll be a Colonel 

Noble, perhaps ! — One hour, Sir, after midnight. 

Huguet. You leave me dumb with gratitude, 
my lord ; 
I'll pick the trustiest (aside) Marion's house can 
furnish. [Exit Huguet. 

Rich. Good — all favours, 
If Francois be but bold, and Huguet honest. 
Huguet — I half suspect — he bow'd too low — 
'Tis not his way. 

Jos. Tliis is the curse, my lord 
Of your high state ; suspicion of all men. 

Rich, [sadly.] True; true; my leeches bribed 
to poison, pages 
To strangle me in sleep— my very King 
(This brain the unresting loom, from which was 

woven 
The purple of his greatness) leagued against me — 
Old— childless— friendless— broken — all forsake- 
All— all— but— 

Jos. What ? 

Rich. Tlie indomitable heart 
Of Armand Richelieu I 

Jos. And Joseph 

Rich, [after a pause]. You 

Yes, I believe you — yes ; for all men fear you — 
And the woi-ld loves you not. And I, friend 

Joseph, 
Am the only man, who could, my Joseph, 
Make you a bishop.* Come, we'll go to dinner. 
And talk the while of methods to advance 
Our Mother Church, f Ah, Joseph — Bishop 
Joseph ! [Exeunt. 

* Joseph's ambition was not, however, so moderate ; he 
refused a bishoprick, and desired the Cardinal's hg^for 
which favour Richelieu openly supplicated tlj 
but contrived, somehow or other, never to effea 
two ambassadors applied for it at Rome. ^^^^^^ 

t The peculiar religion of Pire Joseph may I^^^^BBled 
by the following anecdote : — An officer, whom he^fflf dis- 
missed upon an expedition into Germany, moved by con- 
science at the orders he had received, returned for farther 
explanations, and found the Capuchin disant sa masse. 
He approached and whispered : ■' But, my father, if these 
people defend themselves—" " Kill all," (Qu'on tue tout,) 
answersd the good father, continuing his devotion. 



END OF ACT 11. 



18 



RICHELIEU: OR, THE CONSPIRACY. 




ACT III 



i 



SECOND DAY. — MIDNIGHT. 



Scene I.— Richelieu' s Castle at Ruelle—A Gothic 
Chamber— Moonlight at the Window occa- 
sionally obscured. 

Rich, {reading]. "In silence and at night the 
Conscience feels 
That life should soar to nobler ends than Power." 
So saj' est thou, sage and sober moralist ! 
But wert thou tried ? 
Ye safe and formal men, 
Who v-Tite the deeds with unfeverish hand 
Weigh in nice scales the motives of the great, 
Ye cannot know what je have never tried ! 
Alas, I am not happy— blanch'd and sear'd 
Before my time— breathing an air of hate, 
And seeing daggers in the eyes of men, 
Bearding kings. 

And braved by lackiesit— murder at my bed • 
And lone amidst the multitudinous web. 



Pitil?- ?, ^s'^"'^>°g passage on the singular fate of 

Richelieu, recalled every hour from his gigantic schemes to 
frus rate some miserable cabal of the anle-roonx Siieu 
wouVl often exclaim, that " Six pieds de tene (as he ca 'd 
the Jiing 3 cabinet) lui donnaient plus de peine que tout le 
reste de I'Europe '_' The death of Wallenstein, sa^vfficed by 
the Emperor Ferdinand, produced a most lively impression 

J'l^.".^'"^/-"""-^ "5 ^"^'^ '"^"y t'-^'it^ of compSn be- 
tween Ferdinand and Louis-Wallenstein and himself In 
t^n ^„«r:l°"-s-°°^ regarded by the best authorities as writ 
ten by his sanction, and m great part by himself-the ereat 
S"t'o°i ?n"° ^''*' (when alluding to Wallenstein's muSer 
^^«w'°"/i""°T'^P^''^«"'= anathema on the ^-.lUeredl 
ifiZi f/ependence on jealous and timid royalty, which 
he himself, while he wrote, sustained. It is worthv of re i 
r/th' *^aUt was precisely at the period of WaUenstein's 
Ur Vh'if i'd^"^" "''^^^'^ ^'-- ^'^^ ^^ - -^en?a! 



With the dread Three— that are the fates who 

hold 
The woof and shears— the Monk, the Spy, the 

Headsman : 
And this is Power ! Alas ! I am not happy 

[After a pause] ^^•'' 

Ah !— here !— that spasm— again ! How life and 

Death 
Do wrestle for me momently ! 

c, , , [Taking up the book. 

bpeak to me, moralist ! I'll heed thy counsel 
Were it not best 

Enter Francois hastily and in part disguised. 

Rich, [flinging auay the book]. Philosophv 
thou liest ! ^ "^ ' 

Quick— the despatch !— Power— Empire ! Boy 
— the packet ! 

Fran. Kill me, imj lord ! 

Rich. They knew thee- they suspected— 
ihey gave it not 

Fran. He gave it— Ae— the Count 
De Baradas— with his own hand he gave it 

Rich. Baradas ! Joy ! out with it ' 

Fran. Listen, 
And then dismiss me to the headsman 

Rich. Ha ! 
Go on. 

Fran. They led me to a chamber. There 
Orleans and Baradas-and some half^core 
w horn 1 knew not— were met ■ 

Rich. Not more ! 

Fran. But from 
Th' adjoining chamber broke the din of voices, 



RICHELIEU: OR. THE CONSPIRACy.^ 



19 



Lose no 



The clattering tread of armed men ;— at times 
A shriller cry, that yelled out, " Death to Riche- 
lieu !" 
Rich. Speak not of me; thy country is in 

danger ! 
Fran. Baradas 
Questioned me close— demurr'd — until, at last, 
O'erruled by Orleans— gave the packet— told 

me 
That life and death were in the scroll : — This 

gold — 

Rich. Gold is no proof 

Fran. And Orleans promised thous-ands, 
When Bouillon's trumpets in the streets of Paris 
Rang out the shrill answer hastening from the 

house, 
My footstep in the stirrup. Marion stole 
Across the threshold, whispering, "J 

moment 
Ere Richelieu have the packet: tell him, too — 
Murder is in the winds of Night, and Orleans 
Swears, ere the dawn the Cardinal shall be clay/ 
She said, and trembling fled within: when lo! 
A hand of iron griped me ! Thro' the dark, 
Gleam'd the dim shadow of an armed man : 
Ere I could draw, the prize was wrested from 

me. 
And A hoarse voice gasp'd — " Spy, I spare thee, 

for 
This steel is virgin to thy lord !"— with that 
He vanish'd.- Scared and trembling for thy 

safety, 
I mounted, fled, and kneeling at thy feet. 
Implore thee to acquit my faith— but not. 
Like him, to spare my life. 
Rich. Who spake of life ? 
I bade thee grasp that packet as thine honour— 
A jewel worth whole hecatombs of lives ! , 

Beo-one ! redeem thine honor ! Back to Marion — | 
Or^Baradas- or Orleans— track the robber — j 

Age and gray hairs like mine — and know, thou 
hast lost ^ 1 ., I 

That which hath made thee great and saved Uy 
countrj'. 

See me not till thou'st bought the right to see me. 

Away '? Nay, cheer thee ! thou hast not fail'd j 

y^^ — . . I 

There's no such word as "fail ! " 

Fran. Bless you, my lord, 
For that one smile ! I'll wear it on my heart | 
To light me back to triumph.* [Exit, y 

Rich. The poor youth ! I 

An elder had ask'd life ! I love the young : ] 
For as great men live not in their own time ; 

But in the age to come,— so in the young my soul 
Makes many Richelieus. He will win it yet ^ j 
Fran9ois 'i ' He's gone. My murder ! Marion s 

warning. 
This bravo' s threat ! for the morrow's dawn ! 
I'll set my spies to work— I'll make all space 



♦ The fear and hatred which Richelieu generaUy inspired 
were not shared by his dependants and those about his per- 
son, who are said "to have adored him." His servants 
looked upon him as the best of masters.— Lb Clerc. 

In fact although he was proud and choleric, he was at 
the same time no less affable and generous to those who 
served than severe to those who opposed him. 



(As does the sun) an Universal Eye— 
Huguet shall track —Joseph confess — ha ! ha ! 
Strange, while I laugh' d I shudder' d, and ev'n 

now 
Thro' the chill air the beating of my heart 
Sounds like the death-watch by a sick man's 

pillow ; 
If Huguet could deceive me — hoofs without — 
The gates unclose — steps, near and nearer ! 

Enter Julie. 

Julie. Cardinal ! 
Mv father ! [falls at his feet]. 

Rich. Julie at this hour ! and tears. 
What ails thee ? 
Julie. I am, I am safe with thee ! 
Rich. Safe ! why in all the storms of this wide 
world 
Wbat wind would mar the violet ? 

Jjdie. That man — 
Why did I love him ? — clinging to a breast 
That knows no shelter ? 

Listen — late at noon — 
The marriage-day — eVn then no more a lover, 
He left me coldly ! Well, I sought my chamber 
To weep and wonder ; but to hope and dream ; 
Sudden a mandate from the king, — to attend 
Forthwith his pleasure at the Louvre. 

Rich. Ha! 
You did obey the summons ; and the king 
Reproached your hasty nuptials. 

Julie. Were that all*! 
He frown'd and chid ; proclaim'd the bond un- 
lawful ; 
Bade me not quit my chamber in the palace. 
And there at night-^aloue — this night! all still, 
He sought my presence — dared! — thou read' at 

tne heart. 
Read mine — I cannot speak it ! 

Ri-h. IK p kinjj ! 
You — woman ; well, you yielded ! 

Julie. Cardinal ! 
Dare you say yielded?"' Humbled and 

abash'd. 
He from the chamber crept — this mighty Louis ; 
Crept like a baffled felon !— yielded ! Ah ! 
More royalty in woman's honest heart 
Than dwells within the crowned majesty 
And sceptered anger of a hundred kings I 
Yielded ! Heavens ! — yielded ! 

Rich. To my breast, — close — close ! 
The world would never need a Richelieu, if 
Men — bearded, mailed men — the Lords of Earth- 
Resisted flattery, falsehood, avarice, pride, 
As this poor child with the dove's innocent 

scorn 
Her sex's tempters, Vanity and Power ! 
He left you — well ! 

Julie.^ Then came a sharper trial ! 
At the king's suit, the Count de Baradas 
Sought me, to soothe, to fawn, to flatter, while 
On his smooth lip insult appear'd more hateful 
I For the false mask of pity : letting fall 
Dark hints of treachery, with a world of sighs 
I That heaven had granted to so base a lord 
i The heart whose coldest friendship were to him 
i What Mexico to mieers ' Stiing ^t last 



20 



RICHELIEU: OR, THE CONSPIRACY. 



By my disdain, the dim and glimmering sense 
Of his cloak'd words broke into bolder light, 
And THEN — ah ! then, my haughty spirit failed 

me; 
Then I was weak — wept — oh ! such bitter tears ! 
For (turn thy face aside, and let me whisper 
The horror to thin^ ear ) then I did learn 
That he — that — Adrien, that my husband — knew 
The King's polluting suit and deemed it 

honor ! 
Thin all the terrible and loathsome truth 
Glared on me ; coldness-waywardness-reserve — 
Mystery of looks— words — all unravell'd ! — and 
I saw the impostor where I had lov'd the God ! 
Rich. I think thou wrongest thy husband — 

but proceed. 
Julie. Did j'ou say " wi-ong'd" him ? Cardinal, 
my father, 
Did you say " wrong'd?" Prove it! and life 

shall glow 
One prayer for thy reward and his forgiveness ! 
Rich. Let me know all. 
Julie. To the despair he caused 
The courtier left me ; but amid the chaos 
Darted one guiding ray — to 'scape — to fly — 
Reach Adrien, learn the worst — 'twas then near 

midnight ; 
Trembling, I left my chamber ; sought the queen ; 
Fell at her feet — reveal'd the unholy peril — 
Implored her aid to flee our joint disgrace. 
Moved, she embraced and soothed me ; nav, 

preserved ! 
Her words sufficed to unlock the palace gates ; 

I hastened home — but home was desolate 

No Adrien there ! Fearing the worst, I fled 
To thee, directed hither. As my wheels 
Paused at thy gates— the clang of arms behmd 
The ring of hoofs — 

Rich. 'Twas but my guards, fair trembler. 
(So Huguet keeps his word, my omens wrong'd 
him). 
Julie. Oh, in one hour what years of anguish 

crowd ! 
Rich. Nay, there's no danger now. Thou 
need'st rest. 
Come, thou shalt lodge beside me. Tush ! be 
cheer'd, 1 

My rosiest Amazon— thou wrong'st thy Theseus 
All will be well— yet, yet all wel^ {Exeunt. 

Enter Huqoet — De Mauprat in compUte armour, 
his visor down. 



Hug. Not here ! 

De Maup. Oh, I will find him, fear not. Hence 
and guard 
The galleries where the menials sleep— plant 

sentries 
At every outlet. Chance should throw no shadow 
Between the vengeance and the victim ! Go ' 
Ere yon brief vapor that obscures the moon. 
As doth our deed pale conscience, pass awav, 
The mighty shall be ashes. 

Hug. Will you not 
A second arm ? 

De Maup. To slay one weak old man ? 
Away ! No lesser wrongs than mine can make 
This murder lawful. Hence ! 

Hug. A short farewell ! ^^xit 



j Re-enter Richelieu, 7iot perceiving De Mauprat 

Rich. How heavy is the air ! the vestal lamp 
Of the sad moon, weary with vigil, dies 
In the still temple of the solemn heaven ! 

The very darkness lends itself to fear 

To treason — 
De Maup. And to death ! 
Rich. Ha! 
What art thou, wretch ? 
De Maup. Thy doomsman ! 
Rich. Ho, my guards ! 
Huguet ! Monthbrassial ! Vermont ! 

DeMaup. Ay, thy spirits 
Forsake thee, wizzard ; thy bold men of mail 
Are my confederates. Stir not ! but one step. 
And know the next — thy grave ! 

Rich. Thou liest, knave ! 
I am old, infirm— most feeble— but thou liest ' 
Armand de Richelieu dies not by the hand 
Of man — the stars have said it* — and the voice 
Of ray own prophet and oracular soul 

Confirms the shining Sybils ! Call them all 

Thy brother butchers! Earth hath no such 

fiend — 
No ! as one parricide of his father-land. 
Who dares in Richelieu murder France ! 

De Maup. Thy stars 
Deceive thee. Cardinal ! thy soul of wiles 
May against kings and armaments avail. 
And mock the embattled world ; but powerless 

now 
Against the sword of one resolved man, 
Upon whose forehead thou hast written shame ! 
Listen : 

In his hot youth, a soldier urged to crime 
Against the State, placed in your hands his life ; 
You did not strike the blow — but o'er his head. 
Upon the gossamer thread of your caprice. 
Hovered the axe. His the brave spirit's hell, 
The twilight terror of suspense ; — your death 
Had set him free ;— he purposed not nor prayed it. 
One day you summoned — mocked him with 

smooth pardon 
Sho'wered wealth upon him — bade an angel's face 

Turn earth to paradise 

Rich. Well! 

De Maup. Was this mercy ? 
A Cassar's generous vengeance ?— Cardinal, no ! 
Judas, not Caesar, was the model ! You 
Saved him from death for shame reserved to 

grow 
The scorn of living men — to his dead sires 
Leprous reproach— scoflF of the age to come— 
A kind of convenience — a Sir Pandarus 
To his own bride, and the august adulterer I 
Then did the first great law of human hearts, 
Which with the patriot's, not the rebel's name, 
CrouTied the first Brutus, when the Tarquin fell. 
Make misery royal— raise this desperate wretch 
Into thy destiny ! Expect no mercy ! 
Behold De Mauprat ! [Uffs his visor. 

Rich. To fliy knees, and crawl 
For pardon ; or, I tell thee, thou shalt live 
For such remorse, that did I hate thee, I 



In common with his contemporaries, Richelieu was 
credulous m astrology's less lawful arts. He was too fortu- 
nate a man not to be superstitioui. 



RICHELIEU: OR, THE CONSPHIACY. 



21 



■Would bid thee strike, that I might be avenged ! 

It was to save my Julie from the king, 

That in thy valor I forgave thy crime ; — 

It was, when thou — the rash and ready tool — 

Yea. of that shame thou loath' st — did'st leave 

thy hearth 
To the polluter — in these arms thy bride 
Found the j^rotecting shelter thine withheld. 

[ Goen to the door. 
Julie de Mauprat — Julie ! 

Enter Julie. 

Lo ! my witness, sir ! 

Be Slaup. "What marvel's this? — I dream J 
My Julie — thou ! 

Julie. Henceforth all bond 
Between us twain is broken. "Were it not 
Fur this old man, I might, in truth, have lost 
The right — now mine — to scorn thee ! 

Rich. So j'ou hear her ! j 

De Maup^ Thou, with some slander, liast her 
sense infected ! 

Julie. No, sir ; he did excuse thee in despite i 
Of all that wears the face of truth. Thy/rie/ic?— ! 
Thy confidant — familiar Baradas — I 

Hiinself reveal'd thy baseness. j 

Be Maup. Baseness ! 

Rich. Ay; ^ I 

That thou didst court dishonour ! I 

De Maup Baradas ! | 

Where is thy thunder, Heaven ? Duped ! snared ! , 

undone ! 
Thou — thou couldst not believe him ! Thou dost j 
love me ! 

Julie, [aside}. Love him ! Ah ! 
Be still, my heart ! Love you I did : — how fondlj 
Woman — if women Avere my listeners now — 
Alone could tell ! For ever tied my dream : 
Farewell — all's over ! 

Rich. Nay, my daughter, these 
Are but the' blinding mists of day -break love ' 
Sprung from its very heat, and heralding | 

A noon of happy summer. Take her hand ^ 

And speak the truth with which your heart , 
runs over — I 

That this Count Judas— this incarnate falsehood— ! 
Never lied more than when he told thy Julie 
That Adrien loved her not— except, indeed. j 

When he told Adrien, Julie could betray him. j 

Julie, [embracimi De Maup.] You love me, ' 
then ! you love me ! and they wrong' d 
you ! 

Be Moup. Ah, could'st thou doubt '? 

Rich. Why, man, the very mole 
Less blind than thou ! Baradas loves thy wife :— 
Had hoped her hand— hopes even now 
To make thy corpse his footstool to thy bed ! 
Where was thy wit, man? Ho! these schemes 

are glass ! 
The very sun shines through them. 

Be Maup. 0, my lord, 
Can you forgive me ? 

RicK Ay^ and save you ! 

Be Maup. Save ! — 
Terrible word ! 0, save thyself: these halls 
Swarm with thy foes: already for thy blood 
Pants thirsty murder ! 



Julie. Murder ! 
Rich. Hush ! put by 
The woman. Hush ! a shriek — a cry — a breath 
Too loud, would startle from its horrent pause 
The swooping Death ! Go to the door and listen ! 
Now for escape ! 

Be Maup. None — none ! Their blades shall 
pass 
This heart to thine. 

Rich, [dryly.'] An honorable outwork. 
But much too near the citadel. I think 
That I can trust you now [slowly, and yazing on 

Mm] ; yes, 
I will trust you. 
How many of my troop league with you ? 

Be Maup. All !— 
We are your troop ! 
Rich. And Huguet ? — 
Be Maup. Is our captain. 
'Rich. This comes of spies. 
All ? the lion's skin too short to-night, — 
Now for the fox's? 

Julie. A hoarse gathering murmur ! 
Hurrying and heavy footsteps ! 
Rich, lla ! the posterns! 
Be Maup. No egress where no sentry ! 
Rich. I have it ! to my chamber— quick ! Come, 
Julie ! 
Hush ! Mauprat come ! 

[Murmur at a distance—" Beath to the Car- 
dinal ! " 
Rich. Bloodhounds, I laugh at ye! ha! ha! 
we will 
Baffle them yet. Ha ! ha ! 

[Exe^mt Julie, Mauprat, Richelieu. 
Huff. [without]. This way— this way ! 

Enter Huguet and the Conspirators. 

Hug. De Mauprat' s hand was never slow in 
battle ; 
Strange, if it falter now ! Ha ! gone ! 

First Conspirator. Perchance 
The fox hath crept to rest ; and to his lair 
Death, the dark hunter, tracks him. 

Enter Mauprat. 

Be Maup. Live the King ! 
Richelieu is dead I 

Hug. You have been long. 

Be Maup. I watched him till he slept. 
Heed me. No trace of blood reveals the deed ; — 
Strangled in sleep. His health had long been 

broken — 
Found breathless in his bed. So runs our tale, 
Remember ! Back to Paris— Orleans gives _ 
Ten thousand crowns, and Baradas a lordship, 
To him who first gluts vengeance with the news 
That Richelieu is in heaven ! Quick, that all 

France 
May share your joy ! 

iluq. And you ? 

Be Mav.p. Will stay to crush 
Eager suspicion — to forbid sharp eyes 
I To dwell too closely on the clay : prepare 
The rites, and pla'ce him on his bier— this my 
task. 



22 



RICHELIEU: OR, THE CONSPIRACY. 



I leave to you, sirs, the more grateful lot 
Of wealth and honours. Hence ! 

Hug. I shall be noble ! 

Be Maup. Away. 

First Conspirator. Five thousand crowns ! 

Omnes. To horse ! to horse ! 

\^Exeunt Conspirators. 



Scene H. — Still night. — A room in the house of 
Count de Bakadas 

Orleans and De Beringhen. 

De Ber. I understand. Mauprat kept guard 

without : 
Knows naught of the despatch — but heads the 

troop 
Whom the poor Cardinal fancies his protectors. 
Save us from such protection ! 

Orleans. YetifHuguet, 
By whose advice and proffer we renounced 
Our earlier scheme, should still be Richelieu's 

minion, 
And play us false — 

De Ber. The fox must then devour 
The geese he gripes. I'm out of it, thank 

Heaven ! 
And you must swear you smelt the trick, but 

seem'd 
To approve the deed to render up the doers. 

Enter Baradas. 

Bar. Julie is fled ; — The King, whom I now 
left 
To a most thorny pillow, vows revenge 
On her — on Mauprat — and on Richelieu ! Well ; 
We loyal men anticipate his wish 
Upon the last — and as for Mauprat, — 

\^8howing a icrit. 
De Ber. Hum ! 
They say the devil invented printing ! Faith, 
He has some hand in writing parchment — eh. 

Count ? 
What mischief now ? 

Bar. The King, at Julie's flight. 
Enraged will brook no rival in a subject — 
So on this old offence — the affair at Faviaux — 
Ere Mauprat can tell tales of i«, we build 
His bridge between the dungeon and the grave. 
Orleans. Well ; if our courier can but reach 
the army. 
The cards are ours ! and yet, I own I tremble. 
Our names are in the scroll — discovery, death ! 
Bar. Success ! a crown ! 

De Ber. \^apart to Baradas.'] Our future re- 
gent is 
No hero. 

Bar. \to De Beringhen]. But his rank makes 
others valiant : 
And on his cowardice I mount to power. 
Were Orleans Regent— what were Baradas ? 
Oh ! by the way — I had forgot your highness. 
Friend Huguet whisper'd me, " Beware of Ma- 
rion : 
I've seen her lurking near the Cardinal's 
palace." 



Upon that hint — I've found her lodgings else- 
where. 
Orleans. You wrong her. Count -.-Poor Marion t 

she adores me. 
Bar. [apologetically]. Forgive me, but — 

Enter Page. 

Page. "iA^y lord, a rude, strange soldier. 
Breathless with haste, demands an audience. 

Bar. So ! 
The archers? 

Page. In the ante-room, my lord, 
As you desired. 

Bjr. 'Tis well, admit the soldier 

[Extt Page. 
Huguet ! I bade him seek here ! 

Enter Huguet. 

HvLg. My lords. 
The deed is done. Now, Count, fulfill your word. 
And make me noble ! 

Bar. Richelieu dead ? — art sure ? 
How died he ? 

Hug. Strangled in his sleep : — no blood. 
No tell-tale violence. 

Bar. Strangled ? monstrous villain ! 
Reward for murder ! Ho, there ! [Stamping. 

Enter Captain with guard. 

Hug. No, thou durst not ! 

Bar. Seize on the ruffian — bind him — gag 
him ! Off 
To the Bastile ! 

Hug. Your word — your plighted faith I 

Bar. Insolent liar: — ho, away ! 

Hug. Nay, Count ; 
I have that about me, which 

Bar. Away with him ! 

[Exeunt Htiguet and Ghiards. 
Now, then, all's safe ; Huguet must die in prison. 
So Mauprat : — coax or force the meaner crew 
To fly the country. Ha, ha ! thus, your high- 
ness. 
Great men make use of little men. 

De Ber. My lords, 
Since our suspense is ended — you'll excuse me ; 
'Tis late — and, ent7-e nous, I have not supp'd yet 1 
I'm one of the new Council now, remember; 
I feel the public stirring here already : 
A very craving monster. Au revoir ! 
I [Exit De Beringhen, 

Orleans. No fear, now Richelieu's dead. 

Bar. And could he come 
To life again, he could not keep his life's life — 
His power, — nor save De Mauprat from the 

scaffold, — 
Nor Julie from these arms — nor Paris from 
The Spaniard — nor your highness from the 

throne ! 
All ours ! all ours ! in spite of my Lord Cardinal t 

Enter Page. 

Page A gentleman, my lord, of better mien 
Than he who last — 



RICHELIEU: OR, THE CONSPIRACY. 



23 



Bar. Well, he may enter. \Exit Page. 

Orlcan-H. Who 
Can this be ? 

Bar. One of the conspirators : 
Mauprat himself, perhaps. 

JEnier Francois. 

Fran. My lord 

Bar. Ha, traitor ! 
In Paris still ! 

Fran. The packet — the despatch — 
Some knave play'd spy without, and reft it from 

me, 
Ere I could draw my sword. 

Bar. Play'd spy withaut ! 
I>id he wear armour? 

Fran. Aye, from head to heel. 

Orleam. One of our band. Oh, heavens ! 

Bar. Could it be Mauprat ? 
Kept guard at the door — knew nauyht of the de- 
spatch — 
How HE ? — and yet, who other ? 



Fran. Ha, De Mauprat ! 
The night wag dark, his vizor closed. 

Bor. 'Twas he ! 
How could he guess ? — 'sdeath ! if he should be- 
tray us. 
His hate to Richelieu dies with Richelieu — and 
He was not great enough for treason. Hence ! 
Find Mauprat — beg, steal, filch, or force it back, 
Or, as I live, the halter 

Fran. By the morrow 
I will regain it, [astdel and redeem my honor ! 

\^Exit Francois. 

Orleans. Oh ! we are lost — 

Bar. Not so ! But cause on cause 
For Mauprat' s seizure — silence — death ! Take 
courage. 

Orleans. Should it once reach the king, the 
Cardinal's arm 
Would smite us from the grave. 

Bar. Sir, think it not ! 
I hold De Mauprat in my grasp. To-morrow, 
And France is ours ! [^Exeunt. 



END OF ACT UI. 



ACT I Y 



THIRD DAT. 



Scene I.— The Gardens of ike Louvre. 

Orleans, Baradas, De Beringhen, Courtiers, <tc. 

Orleam. How does my brother bear the Car- 
dinal's death ? 
Bar. With grief when thinking of the toils of 
State ; 
With joy when thinking on the eyes of Julie : — 
At times he sighs, " Who now shall govern 

France?" 
Anon exclaims — " Who now shall baffle Louis ?" 

Enter Lovis and other Courtiers. They uncover. 

Orleans. Now, my liege, now I can embrace a 

brother. 
Louis. Dear Gaston, yes. I do believe you 
love me ; — 
Richelieu denied it — sever'd us too long. 
A great man. Gaston ! Who shall govern France ? 
Bar. Yourself, my liege. That swart and po- 
tent star 
Eclipsed your royal orb. He served the country. 
But did he serve^^ox seek to sivay the King ? 
Louis. You're right — ^he was an able poli- 
tician* — 



That's all: 

He was most disloyal in that marriage. 

[ Qiterulouslg]. He knew that Julie pleased me : — 

a clear proof 
He never loved me ! 

Bar. Oh, most clear ! But now 
No bar between the lady and your will ! 
This writ makes all secure : a week or two 
In the Bastile will sober Mauprat's love, 
And leave him eager to dissolve a hymen 
That brings him such a home. 

Louis. See to it, Count ; [Exit Baradat. 

I'll summon Julie back. A word with you. 
[Takes aside First C'owrti^r a«</ De Beringhen, 
and passes, conversing with them, through the 
' ] 



* Louis XIII. is said to have possessed some natural 
talents, and in earlier youth to have exhibited the germs 
of noble qualities; but a blight seemed to have passed over 



his maturer life. Personally brave, but morally timid, al- 
ways governed, whether by his mother or his minister, and 
always repining at the yoke. The only affection amount- 
ing to a passion that he betrayed was for the sports of the 
field. Yet it was his crowning weakness (and this throws a 
kind of false interest over his character) to wish to be 
loved. He himself loved no one. He suffered the only 
woman who scevas to have been attached to him to wither 

in a convent he gave up favorite after favorite to exile or 

the block. SMxea Richelieu died he said, coldly ; " There 
is a great politician dead ! " And when the ill-fated, but 
unprincipled Cinq Mars, whom he called dear friend, was 
beheaded, he drew out his watch at the fatal hour, and 
said, with a smile : " I think at this moment the dear friend 
makes an ugly face." Nevertheless his conscience at times 
(for he was devout and superstitious), made him gentle, 
and his pride and his honor would often, when least ex- 
pected, rouse him into haughty but brief resistance to the 
despotism under which be lived. 



24 



RICHELIEU: OR, THE CONSPIRACY 




Enter Francois. 

Fran. All search, as yet, in vain for Mauprat ' 

Not 
At home since yesternoon — a soldier told me 
He saw him pass this way with hasty strides , 
Should he meet Barada's they'd rend it from 

him — 
And then benignant Fortune smile upon me— 
I am thy son. If thou desert'st me now, 
Come Death and snatch me from diso-rac'e. 

Enter Be Maupbat. 

De Maup, Oh, let me — 
Let me but meet him foot to foot — I'll dio- 
The Judas from his heart;— albeit the Km"- 
Should o'er him cast the purple ! ^ 

Fran. Mauprat! hold:— 
"Where is the 

De Maup. Well! What would' st thou? 

Fran. The despatch ! 
The packet. Look on me— I serve the Cardinal— 
You know me. Did you not keep guard last niffht 
By Marion's House ? ^ 

Be Maup. I did :— no matter now ! 
They told me he was here I 

Fran. Ojoy! quick— quick— 
The packet thou didst wrest from me ? 

De Maup. The packet ? 
What, art thou he I deemed the Cardinal's spv 
(Dupe that I was)— and overhearing Marion—' 

Fran. The same — restore it ! haste ! 

De Maup. I have it not : 
Methought it but revealed our scheme to Eiche- 
lieu. 



Enter Bae.\das. 

Stand back ! 

Now, villain ! now I have thee ! 
{To Francois] — Hence, sir! Draw! 
Fran. Art mad ? the king's at hand ! leave 
him to Richelieu 
Speak — the despatch to whom — 

De Maup. {Dashing him aside and rushing to 
Baeadas]. 
Thou triple slanderer ! 
I'll set my heel upon thy crest ! [A few passes. 

Fran. Fly— fly ! l y y 

The King ! 

Enter Louis, Orleans, De Beringhen, Courtiers, 
I and the guards. 

I Louis. Swords drawn before our very palace I 
Have our laws died with Richelieu ? 

Bar. Pardon, Sire, — 
My crime but self-defense.* {Aside to King.) It 
is De Mauprat ! 
Louis. Dare he thus brave us ? 

[Baeadas ^Q-oes to the guard and gives the writ. 

* P^^^.'^l^'^'^'^^^^^^'^ ^i'^^rcsi arxA least politic laws was 
tnat which made dueling a capital crime. Never was the 
punishment against the offence more relentlessly enforced ■ 
and never were duels so desperate and so numerous The 
pumshment of death must be evidently Ineffectual so Ion? 
as to refuse a duel is to be dishonoured'; and so long as men 
•!u !u ^.^•^''■'"e, howe\er wrong, that it is better to part 
with the life that Heaven gave than with the honour that 
man makes. In fact the greater the danger he incurred 
the greater was the punctiUo of that cavaUer of the time m 
braving it. 



RICHELIEU. OR, THE CONSPIRACY. 



25 



De Maup. Sire, in tlie Cardinal's name — 
Bar. Seize him — disarm — to the Bastile ! 
(De Mauprat seized — Francois endeavoring to 
speak to him — when — ) 

Enter Richelieu, and Joseph, followed by arquc- 
bitsiers. 

All. The Cardinal! 

Bar The dead 
Return' d to life ! 

Louis. What ! A mock death ! this tops 
The infinite of insult. 

Mavp. Priest and Hero I 
For you are both — protect the truth ! 

Rlc?i. What's this? 

( Taking the writ from guard.) 

De Ber. Fact in philosophy. Foxes have got 
Kine lives as well as cats ! 

Bar. Be firm, my liege. 

Louis. I have assumed the sceptre — I will 
wield it ! 

Joseph. The tide runs counter — there'll be 
shipwreck somewhere. 

Baradas and Orlkans keep close to the King — 
whispering and prompting him, when Ricni;- 
LIEU speaks.) 

Rich. Iligli treason — Faviaux ! still that stale 
pretence 
My liege, bad men (ay, Count, most ktiavish 

men ! ) 
Aouse your royal goodness. For this soldier, 
France hath none braver — and his youth's hot 

folly, 
Misled — (by whom your Highness maj' conjec- 
ture !) — 
Is long since cancell'd by a loyal manhood. 
I, sire, have pardoned him. 

Louis. And we do give 
Your pardon to the winds. Sir, do your duty ! 
Rich. What, Sire ? you do not know — Oh, jiar- 
don me — 
You know not yet, that this brave, honest heart, 
Stood between mine and murder ! Sire ! for my 

sake — 
For your old servant's sake — undo this wrong. 
See, let me rend the sentence. 

Louis. At your peril ! 
This is too much. — Again, Sir, do your duty ! 
Rich. Speak not, but go : — I would not see 
young Valour 
So humbled as grey Service ! 

De Maup. Fare you well ! 
Save Julie, and console her. 

Fron. {aside to Mauprat.) The Dispatch ! 
Your fate, foes, life, hang on a word ! to whom ? 
De Maup. To Huguet. 

[Exeunt^iA\J9ViAT and guard. 
Bar. (aside to Francois). Has he the packet ? 
Fran. He will not reveal — 
(Aside.) Work, brain ! beat, heart ! " There's no 
such vord as fail " [Exit Francois. 

Rich, (fiercely). Room, mj' Lords, room ! The 
minister of France 
Can need no intercession with the king. 

[ They fall back. 



Louis. What means this false report of death, 

Lord Cardinal ? 
Rich. Are you then anger'd, Sire, that I still 

live ? 
Louis. Xo; but such artifice — 
Rich. Not mine: — look elsewhere ! 
Louis — my castle swarm' d A\-ith men of death. 
Bar. (advancing). We have punish'd them 
already. Huguet now 
In the Bastile. Oh ! my Lord, we were prompt 
To avenge you — we were — 

Rich. We ? Ha ! ha ! you hear, 
My liege ! what page, man, in the last court 

grammar 
Made you a plural ?* Count, you have seized 

the larding : — 
Sire, shall I name the master ? 

Louis [motions to 3ar.\t>.\s and tu)-ns haughtily 
to the Cardinal). Enough ! 
Your eminence mu.«t excuse a longer audience. 
To j-our own palace ? — For our conference, this 
Nor place — nor season. 

Rich. Good my liege, for Justice, 
All place a temple, and all season, summer ! 
Do you deny me justice ? Saints of Heaven ! 
He turns from me ! Do you deny me Justice ? 

M3- liege, my Louis, 
Do you refuse me justice — audience even — 
In the pale presence of the baffled Murther?+ 
Louis. Lord Cardinal — one by one vou have 
sevcr'd from me 
The bonds of huiwan love — all near and dear 
Mark'd out for vengeance — exile or the scaftbld. 
You find me now amidst my trustiest friends. 
My closest kindred ; — you would tear them from 

me ; 
They murder you forsooth, since me they love. 
Enough of i)lots and treasons for one reign ! 
Home ! home ! and sleep away these phantoms ! 
Rich. Sire ! 

I jiaticnce. Heaven ! sweet Heaven ! Sire, 

from the foot 
Of that Great Throne, these hands have raised 

aloft 
On an 01\-mpu?, looking down on mortals 



* In his Memoirs Richelieu gives an amusing account of 
the insolence and arts of Baradas, and observes with indig- 
nant astonishment, that the favourite was never weary of 
repeating to the king that he (Baradas) would have made 
just as great a minister as Richelieu. It is on the attach- 
ment of Baradas to La Cressias, a maid of honour to the 
Queen Mother, of whom, according to Baradas, the King 
was enamored also, that his love for the.Tulie de Mortemar 
of the play has been foimded. The secret of Baradas' sud- 
den and extraordinary influence with the King seems to 
rest in the personal adoration which he professed for Louis, 
with whom he affected all the jealousy of a lover, but whom 
he flattered with the ardent chivalry of a knight. Even 
after his disgrace he placed upon his banner, "Fiat voluntas 
tua." 

t Of the haughty and rebuking tone which Richelieu as- 
sumed in his expostulations with the King, Montesquieu 
says : " He degraded the King, but he made illustrious the 
reign." But however proud and choleric in his disputes 
with Louis, the Cardinal did not always disdain recourse to 
the arts of the courtier. Once, after" an angry discussion 
with the King, in which, as usual, Richelieu got the better, 
Louis, as they quitted the palace together, said, rudely. 
"Go first— you are indeed the King of France." "If i 
pass out tirst." replied the minister, after a moment's hesi- 
tation, and with great adroitness, "it is onlv as the hum- 
blest of your servants;" and he took a Hamheau from one 
of the pages to light the king as he walked before him 



RICHELIEU: OR, THE CONSPIRACT. 



And worshipp'd by their awe — before the foot 
Of that high throne,— spurn you the grey-hair' d 

man. 
Who gave you empire — and now sues for safety? 
Louis. No: — when we see your Eminence in 
truth 
At the foot of the throne — we'll listen to you. 

[Sxit Louis. 
Orleans. Saved ! 

£ar For this, deep thanks to Julie and to 
Maupr^t ! [Exeunt. 

Rich. I will aecuse these traitors ! 
Francois shall witness that De Baradas 
Gave him the secret missive for De Bouillon, 
And told him life and death were in the scroll. 
I will— I will ! 

Joseph Tush ! Francois is your creature ; 
So they vdW say, and laugh at you ! Your vit- 

ness 
Mitst be that same dispatch ! 
Rich. Awaj- to Marion ! 

Joseph. I have been there — she is seized — re- 
moved — imprisoned — 
By the Count's orders. | 

Rich. Goddess of bright dreams, ; 

My Country, shalt thou lose me now, when most 
Thou need' St thy worshipper V My native land ! 
Let me but ward this dagger from thy heart, 
And die but on thy bosom ! 

Enter Julie. 

Julie. Heaven, I thank thee ! 
It cannot be, or this all-powerful 
Would not stand idly thus. 

Rich. What dost thou here ? 
Home ! 

Julie. Home? \& Adrien there ? you're dumb, 
yet strive 
For words ; I see them trembling on your lip. 
But choked by pit}-. It uas truth — all truth ! 
Seized — the Bastile — and in your presence, too ! 
Cardinal, where is Adrien ? Think ! he saved 
Your life : your name is infamy, if ^Tong 
Should come to his ! 

Rich. Be sooth'd, child. 

Julie. Child no more ; 
I lov:e, and I am woman ! Hope and suffer ; 
Love, suffering, hope, — what else doth make the 

strength 
And majesty of woman ? Let thine eyes meet 

mine 
Answer me but one word — I am a wife — 
I ask thee for my home, my fate, my ail ! 
Where is my husband? 

Rich. You are Richelieu's ward, 
A soldier's bride : they who insist on truth 
Must outface fear; you ask me for your hus- 
band? 
There — where the clouds of heaven look darkest, 

o'er 
The domes of the Bastile !* 

Julie. O, mercy ! mercy ! 
Save him, restore him, father ! Art thou not 
The Cardinal-King ? the Lord of life and death— 

* According to the custom of Louis XIII. to cause the 
arrest of a person for a state crime and to have him put to 
death was very nearly the same thing.— Le Cleec. 



Beneath whose light, as deepsbeneath the moon, 
The solemn tides of Empire ebb and flow ? — 
Art thou not Richelieu ? 

Rich. Yesterday I was ! — 
To-day a very weak old man ! To-morrow, 
I know not what ! 

Julie. Do you conceive his meaning ? 
Alas ! I cannot. But, methinks my senses 
Are duller than they were ! 

Joseph. The king is chafed 
Against his servant. Lady, while we speak. 
The lackey of the ante-room is not 
More powerless than the Minister of France. 

Enter First Courtier. 

F. Cour. Madame de Mauprat ! 
Pardon, your Eminence — even now I seek 
This lady's home — commanded by the king 
To pray her presence. 

Julie. [Cl'mging to Richelieu'], Think of my 
dead father ! 
Think, how, an infant, clinging to your knees. 
And looking to your eyes, the wrinkled care 
Fled from your brow- before the smile of child- 
hood. 
Fresh from the dews of Heaven ! Think of this, 
And take me to your breast. 

Rich. To those who sent you ! 
And say you found the virtue they would slay, 
Here — couch' d upon this heart, as at an altar. 
And sheltered by the wings of sacred Rome ! 
Begone ! 

F. Cour. My lord, I am your friend and 
servant ! 
Misjudge me not; but never yet was Louis 
So roused against you ; — shall I take this 

answer ? — 
It were to be your foe. 

Rich. All time my foe. 
If I, a Priest, could cast this holy Sorrow 
Forth from her last asylum ! 

F. Cour. He is lost. 

Rich. God help thee, child ! she hears not ! 
Look upon her ! 
Her father loved me so ! and in that age 
AVhen friends are brothers ! She has been to 

me * 

Soother, ntirse, plaything, daughter. Are these 

tears ?* 
Oh ! shame ! shame ! dotage ! 

Joseph. Tears are not for eyes 
That rather need the lightning, which can pierce 
Through barred gates and triple walls, to smite ' 
Crime, where it cowers in secret ! The despatch ! 
Set every spy to work ; the morrow's sun 
Must see that written treason in your hands. 
Or rise upon your ruin. 

Rich. Ay — and close 
Upon mj- corpse ! 
Yes ! to-morrow 



* Like Cromwell and Rienzi, Richelieu appears to have 
been easily moved to tears. The Queen mother, who put 
the hardest interpretation on that humane weakness, which 
is natural with very excitable temperaments, said : " He 
weeps whenever he chooses." It is recorded of him that 
when hia affairs did not succeed, he was cast down and 
frightened, and when he had obtained that which he desijed 
he was proud and insulting. 



RICHELIEU: OR, THE CONSPIRACY. 



37 



Triumph or death ! Look up, child ! Lead us, 
Joseph. [As they are going out, 

Enter Baradas and De Beringhzn. 

Bar. My lord, the king cannot believe your 
Eminence 
So far forgets your duty, and his greatness. 
As to resist his mandate ! Pray you, madam, 
Obey the king — no cause for fear ! 

JuUe. My father ! 

Rich. She shall not stir I 

Bar. You are not of her kindred — 
An orphan — 

Rich. The country is her mother ! 

Bar. The country is the king ! 

Rich. Ay, is it so ; 
Then wakes the power, which in the age of iron* 
Burst forth to curb the great, and raise the low. 
Mark where she stands, around her form I draw 
The awful circlef of our solemn church ! 
Set but a foot within that holy ground. 
And on thy head — yea, though it wore a crown — 
1 launch the curse of Rome ! 

Bar. I dare not brave you ! 
1 do but speak the orders of my king. 
The church, your rank, power, very word, my 

lord, 
Suffice you for resistance ; — blame yourself, 
If it should cost you power ! 



* This alludes to Hildebrand (Gregory the VIi.> who car- 
ried his authority so far as to send legates into all the 
Kingdoms of Europe to support his rights. 

t When I'opilius Lenas was sent as ambassador to Anti- 
ochus, King of Syria, whom the Roman Senate wished to 
abstain from hostilities against Kgypt, he gave the King the 
letter of the Senate, wliich he read and promised to take 
into consideration with his friends. As he was about march- 
ing upon Alexandria, Popilius described with his cane a 
circle in the sand round the King, and ordered him not to 
stir out of it until he had given a decisive answer, at the 
risk of Home's displeisure. This boldness so frightened 
Antioctaus, that he at once yielded to the demand. 



Rich. That my stake. Ah ! 

Dark gamester ! v:hat w thine ? Look at it well !— 
Lose not a trick. By this same hour to-morrov? 
Thou shalt have France, or I thy head ! 

Bar. \aHlde to De Beringhen]. He cannot 
Have the despatch ? 

De Ber. No : were it so, your stake 
Were lost already. 

Joseph, [aside]. Patience is your game : 
Reflect, you have not the Despatch ! 

Rich. ! monk ! 
Leave patience to the saints — for / am human ! 
Did not thj" father die for France, poor orphan ! 
And now they say thou hast no father. Fie ! 
Art thou not pure and good 1 if so, thou art 
A part of that — the Beautiful, the Sacred — 
Which in all climes, men that have hearts adore 
By the great title of their mother country ! 

Bar. [a^ide]. He wanders ! 

Rich. So, cling close unto my breast, 
Here where thou droop'st — lies France ! I am 

very feeble — 
Of little use it seems to either now. 
Well, well — we will go home. 

Bar. In sooth, my lord, 
You do need rest — burthens of the state 
O'ertask your health ! 

Rich, [to Jo-ieph]. I'm patient, see ! 

Bar [asidej. His mind 
And life are breaking fast. 

Rich. [uverheari7ighini]. Irreverent ribald ! 
If so, beware the falling ruins ! Hark ! 
I tell thee, ecorner of these whitening hairs. 
When this snow melteth there shall come a flood ! 
Avaunt ! mv name is Richelieu— I defy thee ! 
Walk blindfold on , behind thee stalks the heads- 
man. 
Ha ! ha ! — how pale he is ! Heaven save my 
country ! 

[Falls back in Joseph's arms. 
[Exit Baradas and De Beringhen, betraying exul- 
tation by their gestures. 



END OF ACT IV. 



ACT Y. 



FOURTH DAT. 



Scene I. — The Bastile — a corridor — in the back 
ground the door of one of the condemned cells. 

Enter Joseph and Gaoler. 

Gaoler. Stay, father, I will call the Governor . 

[Exit Gaoler. 
Joseph. He has it, then — this Huguet, — su we 
learn 
From Francois : — Himaph ! Now if I can but 

gain 
One moment's access, all is ours ! The Cardinal 
Trembles 'tween life and death. His life is 
power. — 



Smite one — slay both ! No ^sculapian drugs, 
By learned quacks baptised with Latin jargon. 
E'er bore the healing which that scrap of parch- 
ment 
Will medicine to Ambition's flagging heart. 
France shall be saved — and Joseph be a bishop ! 

Enter Governor and Gaoler. 

Gov. Father, you wish to see the prisoner 
Huguet 
And the young knight De Mauprat ? 

Joseph. So my office. 
And the Lord Cardinal's order warrant, son 



38 



RICHELIEU: OR, THE CONSPIRACY. 



Gov. Father, it cannot be ; Count Baradas 
Has summon' d to the Louvre Sieur De Mauprat. 
Joseph. Well, well ! But Huguet — 
Gov. Dies at noon ! 
Joseph. At noon ! 
No moment to delay the pious rites 
"Which fit the soul for death — quick, quick — 
admit me ! 
Gov. You cannot enter, monk ! Such are va\ 

orders ! 
Joseph. Orders ! rain man ! — the Cardinal still 
is minister. 
His orders crush all others ! 

Gov. {lifting his hat]. Save his king's ! 
See, monk, the royal sign and seal affixed 
To the Count's mandate. None maj- have access 
To either prisoner, Huguet or De Mauprat, 
Not even a priest, without the special passjjort 
Of Count De Baradas. I'll hear no more I 

Joseph. Just Heaven ! are we to be baffled 
thus ! — Despair ! 
Thruk on the Cardinal's power — beware his 
anger. 
Gov. I'll not be menaced, Priest ! Besides, 
the Cardinal 
Is dying and disgraced — all Paris knows it. 
You hear the prisoner's knell. [Bell tolls. 

Joseph. I do beseech you — 
The Cardinal is not dying. — But one moment 
And — hist ! — five thousand pistoles I — 

Gov. How ! a bribe, 
And to a soldier gray with years of honour ! 
Begone ! — 

Joseph. Ten thousand — twenty !— 
Gov. Gaoler — put this 
Monk without the walls. 

Jos. By those gray hairs, 
Yea, by this badge [touching the cross of St. Louis 
toorn by the Gover7ior] — the guerdon of 
yom* valour — 
By all our toils — hard days and sleepless nights — 
Borne in our country's service, noble son — 
Let me but see the prisoner ! — 
Gov. No. 
Joseph. He hath 

Secrets of state — papers in which 

Gov, [interrupting]. I know — 
Such was his message to Count Baradas, 
Doubtless the Count will see to it — 

Joseph. The Count ! 
Then not a hope I — you shall — 

Gov Betray my trust ! 
Never — not one word more — you heard me, 
gaoler ? 
Joseph. What can be done ? — distraction !^ — 
Richelieu yet 
Must — what ? — I know not — thought, nerve, 

strength forsake me. 
Dare you refuse the Church her holiest rights ? 
Gov. I refuse nothing — I obey my orders — 
Joseph. And sell your country to her parri- 
cides ! 

Oh, tremble yet — Richelieu 

iGov. Begone ! 

Joseph. Undone ! [Exit Joseph. 

Gov. A most audacious shaveling — interdicted, 
Above all others, by the Count — 

Gaoler. Sir, that troublesome young fellow. 



Who calls himself the prisoner Huguet's son. 
Is here again — ^implores, weeps, raves, to see 
him. 
Gov. Poor youth, I pity him ! 

Enter De Beei>-ghen, /bZ/owec? by Francois. 

De Ber. [to Francois\. Now, prithee, friend. 
Let go my cloak ; you really discompose me. 

Fran. No, they will drive me hence ; my 
father ! Oh ! 
Let me but see him once — but once — one mo- 
ment ! 

DeBer. [to Governor]. Your servant, Messire,— 
this poor rascal, Huguet, 
Has sent to see the Count De Baradas 
Upon state secrets that afflict his conscience, 
The Count can't leave his Majesty for an instant ; 
I am his proxy. 

Gov. The Count's word is law ! 
Again, young scapegrace ! How com'st thou ad- 
mitted ? 

De Ber. Oh ! a most filial fellow : Huguet's 
son ! 
I found him whimpering in the court below. 
I pray his leave to say good-bye to father, 
Before that very long unpleasant journey 
Father's about to take. Let him wait here 
Till I return. 

Fran. No ; take me with you. 

De Ber. Nay ; 
After me, friend — the Public first ! 

Gov. The Count's 
Commands are strict. No one must visit Huguet 
Withoiit his passport. 

De Ber. Here it is ! Pshaw ! nonsense ! 
I'll be your surety. See, my Cerberus, 
He is no Hercules ! 

Gov. Well, you're responsible. 
Stand there, friend. If, when you come out, my 

Lord, 
The youth slip in, 'tis your fault. 

De Ber. So it is ! 

[Exit through the door of cell, followed 
by the Gaoler.) 

Gov. Be calm my lad. Don't fret so. I had 
once 
A fathur, too ! I'll not be hard upon you. 
And so stand close. I must not see you enter; 
You understand. Between this innocent j'outh 
And that intriguing monk there is, in truth 
A wide distinction. 

Re-enter Gaolee. 

Come, we'll go our rounds : 

I'll give you just one quarter of an hour ; 

And if my lord leave first, make my excuse 

Yet stay; the gallery's long and dark; no sen- 
try 

Until he reach the grate below. He'd best 

Wait till I come. If he should lose' the way. 

We may not be in call. 
Fran. I'll tell him, sir, — 

[Exeunt Gov. aiid Gaoler. 

He's a wise son that knoweth his own father. 

I've forged a precious one ! So far, so well ! 

Alas, what then '? this wretch has sent to Bara- 
das — 



RICHELIEU- OR, THE CONSPIRACY. 



29 



Will sell the scroll to ransom life. Oh, Heaven! 
On what a thread hangs hope ! 

[Listens at the door. 
Loud words — a cry ! [looks thrmigh the gratino. 
They struggle ! Ho ! !— the packet ! ! ! 
Lost ! He has it — 

The courtier has it — Huguet, spite his chains, 
Grapples ! — well done ! Now — now ! 

[Draws back. 
The gallery's long ! 
And this is left us ! 

[Drawing his dagger, and standing behind 
the door.^ 

Re-enter De Beringhen, tvith the packet. 

De Ber. Victory ! 
Fran. Yield it, robber — 
Yield it — or die — 

DeBer. Off! ho !— there !— 
Fran, {grappling with him.) Death or honour ! 
[Exeunt striiggling. 

Scene ll.— The King's closet at the Louvre. 
Baradas arid Orlkans. 



We make you minister. 
Gaston, for you — the baton of our armies. 
You love me, do you not ? 

Orleans. Oh, love you, Sire ? 
(Aside) Never so much as now. 

Bar. May I deserve 
Your trust {aside) — until you sign your abdica- 
tion ! 
My liege, but one way left to daunt De Mauprat, 
And Julie to divorce. — We must prepare 
The death-A\Tit ; what, tho' sigu'd and seal'd? 

we can 
I Withhold the enforcement. 
j Louis. Ah, you may prepare it ; 
, We need not urge it to effect. 
I Bar. Exactly! 

I No haste, my liege. {Aside.) He may live one 
hour longer. 



Bar. All smiles ! the Cardinal's swoon of yes- 
terday 
Heralds his death to-day ; could he survive. 
It would not be as minister — so great 
The King's resentment at the priest's defiance ! 
All smiles! and yet should this accurs'd De 

Mauprat 
Have given our packet to another — 'Sdeath 
I dare not think of it ! 

Orleans. You've sent to search him ? 
Bar. Sent, Sir, to search ?— that hireling hands 
may find 
Upon him, naked, with its broken seal. 

That scroll whose every word is death ? No 

no — j 

These hands alone must clutch that awful secret, j 
I dare not leave the palace, night or day. 

While Richelieu lives — his minions^reatures 

spies — 
'Not one must reach the King ! 
Orleans. What hast thou done ? 
Bar. Summon'd De Mauprat hither. 
Orleans. Could this Huguet, 
Who pray'd thy presence with so fierce a fer 

vour. 
Have thieved the scroll ? 

Bar. Huguet was housed with us, 
The very moment we dismiss'd the courier, 
ft cannot be ! a stale trick for reprieve. 
But, to make sure, I've sent our trustiest friend 
ro see and sifl him. Hist ! here comes the King. 
How fare you, Sire ? 



Enter Louis. 

Louis. In the same mind I have 
decided ! yes, he would forbid your presence, 
*Iy brother,— yours, my friend,— then, Julie, 

too: 
rhwarts— braves— defies — {suddenly turning to 



Enter Courtier. 

Court. The Lady Julie, Sire, implores an 
audience. 

Louis. Aha ! repentant of her folly ! — Well, 
Admit her. 

Bar. Sire, she comes for Mauprat's pardon. 
And the conditions 

Louis. You are minister. 
We leave to you our answer. 

{As Julie enters — the Captain of (he Archers, by 
another door — a/ul whispers Baradas.) 

Capt. The Chevalier 
De Mauprat waits below. 

Bar. {aside.) Now the despatch ! 

[Exit with Offictr. 

Enter Julie. 

Julie. My liege, you sent for me. I come 
where Grief 
Should come when guiltless, while the name of 

; Is holy on the earth ! — Here, at the feet 
Of Power, I kneel for mercy. 

Louis. Merc}% Julie, 
Is an affair of state. The Cardinal should 
In this be your interpreter. 

Julie. Alas ! 
I know not if that mighty spirit now 
Stoops to the things of earth. Nay, while I 

.speak, 
Perchance he hears the orphan by the throne 
WTiere Kings themselves need pardon; 0, my 

liege. 
Be father to the fatherless ; in you 
Dwells my last hope ! 

Enter Baradas. 



Bar. {aside.) He has not the despatch ; 
Smil'd while we search'd, and braves me. — Oh ! 

Louis, (gently.) What would'st thou ? 

Julie. A single life — You reign o'er millions. — 
What 
Is one man's life to you? — and yet to 7ne 
'Tis France — 'tis earth — 'tis everything ! — a life. 



Baradas.) A human life — my husband's. 



RICHELIEU: OR, THE 'CONSPIRACY. 




UJ?J»AVr4r.Sc£CEM 



LmiB. {aside.) Speak to her.. 
I am not marble, — give her hope — or — 

Bar. Madam, 
Vex not your king, whose heart, too ?oft for 

justice, 
Leaves to his ministers that solemn charge. 

[Louis walks up the stage. 
Julie. You were his friend. 
Bar. I was, before I loved thee. 

Jul'.C, LjvXu AxZ ! 

Bar. Hush, Julie ! could' st thou misinterpret 
My acts, thoughts, motives, nay, my very words, 
Here — in this palacu ? 

Julie. Now I know I'm mad, 
Even that niemory fail'd me. 

Bar. I am young, 
Well-born and brave as Mauprat:— for thy sake 
I peril what he has not — fortune — power ; 
All to great souls most dazzling. I alone 
Can save thee from thy tyrant, now my puppet ! 
Be mine: annul the mockery of this marriage, 
And, on the day I clasp thee to my breast, 
De Mauprat shall be free. 

Julie. Thou dost not speak 
Thus in his ear {pointing to Louis). Thou double 

traitor ! — tremble. 
I will unmask thee. 

Bar. I will say thou ravest. 
And see this scroll : its letters shall be blood ! 
Go to the King, count with me word for word : 
And while you pray the life — I write the sen- 
tence ! 
Julie. Stay, stay, {rushing to the King.) You 
have a kind and princely heart, 
Tho' sometimes it is silent : you were born 
To power — it has not flushed you into madness, 
As it doth meaner men. Banish my husband — 



CMrHt.yA-M)/S 



Dissolve our marriage — cast me to that grave 
Of human ties, where hearts congeal to ice, 
In the dark convent's everlasting winter— 
(Surely eno' for justice— hate— revenge— ) 
But spare this life, thus lonely, scathed, anc 

bloomless ; 
And when thou stand' st for judgment on thin. 

own, 
The deed shall shine beside thee as an angel. 
7-..,.v /^ , ■-') ,,/>•„,, J, ^ \ r<„ -.r> t-^, 3?u:"r.das 



and annul thy marriage. 

And ' \ 

Julie, {anxiously, and watching his countenance. 
Be his bride ! 
Louis. A form, a mere decorum ; 
Thou know'st I love thee. 

Julie. O thou sea of shame, 
And not one star. 

( The King goes up the stage, and passes throug 

the suite of rooms at the side in evider 

emotion.) 

Bar. Well, thy election, Julie: 

This hand — his grave ! 

Julie. H is grave ! and I — 

Bar. Can save him. 

Swear to be mine. 

Julie. That were a bitterer death ! 
Avaunt, tliou tempter ? I did ask his life 
A boon, and not the barter of dishonour. 
The heart can break, and scorn you ; ^^T-eak yot 

malice ; 
Adrien and I will leave you this sad earth, 
And pass together hand in hand to Heaven ! 

Bar. You have decided. Listen to me, lad} 
I am no base intriguer. I adored thee 
From the first glance of those inspiring eyes ; 
With thee entwined ambition, hope, the future 



RICHE L IEU: OR, THE CONSPIRACY. 



/ >i'ill not loxe thee ! I can place thee nearest — 
Ay, to the throne — nay, on the throne, per- 
chance ; 
My star 13 at its zenith. Look upon me ; 
Hast thou decided ? 

Julie. No, no ; you can see 
How weak I am ; be liuman. Sir — one moment. 

Bar. {stamping hln foot, Dk Mauprat appears 
at the side of the stage, guarded.) 
Behold thy husband ! — Sliall he pass to death, 
And know thou could'st have saved him? 

Julie. Adrien, speak ! 
But say you wish to live ! — if not your wife 
Your slave, — do with me as you will ? 

De Mnup. Once more !-7- 
Why this is mercy, Count ! Oh, think, my Julie, 
Life, at the best, 13 short but love immortal ! 

Bar. {taking Julie's hand.) Ah, loveliest — 

Julie. Go, that toucli has made me iron. 
We have decided — death ! 

Bar. (to De Macprat.) Now, say to whom 
Thou gavest the packet, and thou'yet shalt live. 

JDe Mnup. I'll tell thee nothing. ' 

Bar. Hark, — the rack ! 

De Maup. Thy penance 
For ever, wretch !— What rack is like the con- 
science ? 

Bar. [giving the writ to the Officer.] Hence to 
the headsman. 
The Huismr announces "Hi.1 Eminence, the Car- 
dinal Duke de Richelieu." 

Shnter RicnrxiEu, attended by Gentlemen, Pages, 
die, pale, feeble, leaninr/ on Joseph, followed 
by three Secretaries of State, attended by Sub- 
setretaries with papers, d-c. 

Julie, [rushing to Rich]. You live — you live 

and Adrien shall not die ! 
Rich. Not if an old man's prayers, himself near 
death, 
Can aught avail theo, daughter ! Count, vou 

now 
Hold what I held on earth : — one boon, my lord, 
This soldier's life. 

Bar. The stake — my head ! — you said it — 
I cannot lose one trick. Remove your prisoner. 
Julie. No !— :No ! — 

Enter Louis and suite from the rootns beyond. 

Rich, [to officer.] Hold, sir. My good liege, 
Your worn-out servant, willing, Sire, to spare 

you 
Some pain of conscience, would forestall your 

wishes. 

[ do resign my office. 

De Maup. You ! 

Julie. All's over. 

Rich. My end draws near. These sad ones, 
Sire, I love them, 
[ do not ask his life ; but suflfer justice 
To halt, until I can dismiss hie soul, 
Uhorged with an old man's blessing. 
Louis. Surely ! 

Bar. Sire 

Louis. Silence — small favour to a dying 
servant. 



31 

Rich. You would consign your armies to the 
baton 
Of your most honour'd brother. Sire, so be it I 
Your minister, the Count de Baradas ; 
A most sagacious choice ! — Your Secretaries 
Of State attend me, Sire, to tender up 
The ledgers of a realm.— I do beseech j-ou. 
Suffer these noble gentlemen to learn 
The nature of the glorious task that waits them, 
Here, in my presence. 

Louis. You say well, my lord. 
[To secretaries as he seats himself] Approach, sire. 
Rich. I — I — faint ! — air — air — 

[Joseph and a gaitleman assist him to a sofa, 
placed beneath a window. 
I thank you — draw near, my children. 

Bar. He's too weak to question. 
Nay, scarce to speak ; all's safe. 
[Julie keeling beside the Cardinal; tlie officer of 
the guard behind Mauprat ; Joseph near 
Richelieu, watching the King ; B.\radas near 
the King's chair anxious and disturbed ; Or- 
leans at a greater distance, careless and tri^ 
umphant ; as each Secretary advances in his 
turn he takes the portfolios from the Sub- 
secretaries. 
F. Sec. [Kneeh]. The affairs of Portugal. 
Most urgent. Sire ;— One short month since the 

Duke 
Braganza was a rebel. 
Louis. And is still ! 

F. Sec. No, Sire ; he has succeeded ! He is 
now 
Crown' d King of Portugal — craves instant succor 
Against the arms of Spain. 

Louis. We will not grant it 
Against his lawful king. Eh, Count? 
Bar. No, Sire. 

F. Sec. But Spain's your deadliest foe ; what- 
ever 
Can weaken Spain must strengthen France. The 

Cardinal 
Would send the succors ; — balance. Sire, of Eu- 
rope ! 
Louis. The Cardinal !— balance !— We'll con- 
sider. — Eh, Count ? 
Bar. Yes, Sire ; fall back. 

F. Sec. But 

Bar. Oh ! fall back, sir. [Secretary rises. 

Joseph. Humph! 

Second Sec. [advances and kneels]. The affairs 
of England, Sire, most urgent : Charles 
The First has lost a battle that decides 
One-half his realm— craves moneys. Sire, and 
succour. 
I^uis. He shall have both. — Eh, Baradas ? 
Bar. Yes, Sire. 
(Oh that despatch ! — my veins are fire !) 

Rich, [feeble but with great distinctness]. My 
liege. 
Forgive me, Charles's cause is lost ! A man, 
Named Cromwell, risen — a great man! your 

succour 
Would fail— your loans be squander'd ! Pause — 
reflect. 
Lotiis. Reflect. Eh, Baradas ? 
Bar. Reflect, Sire. . • " 

Joseph. Humph ! 



33 



RICHELIEU: OR, THE CONSPIRACY. 



Louis, [aside]. I half repent ! No successor 
to Richelieu. 
Round me thrones totter ! dynasties dissolve ! 
The soil he guards alone escapes the earthquake ! 
Joseph. Our star not yet eclipsed ! — you mark 
the king"? 
Oh had we the Despatch ! 

Rich. Ah ! Joseph !— Child- 
Would I could help thee ! 

Bar. [to Secretary]. Sir, fall back. 

Second Sec. But 

Bar. Pshaw, sir ! [Secretary retires. 

Third Sec. [advances and kfteels]. The secret 
correspondence, Sire, most urgent — 
Accounts of spies — deserters — heretics — 
Poisoners — schemes against yourself ! 
Louis. Myself ! most urgent ! 

[Looking on the documents. 

JSnier Feaxcois, passes behind the CardinaVs at- 
tendants, and sheltered by them from the sight 
o/Baradas, etc. 

Fran. ! my lord ! 
I hare not fail'd ! [Gives the packet. 

Rich. Hush ! [Looking at the contents. 

TTiird Sec. [to the King]. Sire, the Spaniards 
Have reinforced their army on the frontiers. 
The Due de Bouillon 

Rich. Hold ! [Secretary retires.] In this de- 
partment — 
A paper — here. Sire, — read yourself — then take 
The Count's advice in't. 

Enter De Beringhen hastily, and draws aside 
Baradas. 

Bar. [bursting from De Beringhen]. What ! 
and reft it from thee ? 
Ha !— hold ! 

Joseph. Fall back, son, it is your turn now ! 

Bar. Death ! — the Despatch ! 

Louis, [reading]. To Bouillon — and sign'd Or- 
leans ! — 
Baradas, too — league with our foes of Spain ! — 
Lead our Italian armies — what ! to Paris ! — 
Capture the king — my health requires repose ! 
Make me subscribe my proper abdication ! 
Orleans, my brother, Regent ! Saints of Heaven ! 
These are the men I loved ! 

[Richelieu falls back. 

Joseph. See to the Cardinal ! 

Bar. He's dying ! — and I yet shall dupe the 
king ! 

Louis, [rushing to Richelieu], Richelieu ! — 
Lord Cardinal ! — 'tis I resign ! — 
Reign thou ! 

Joseph. Alas ! too late ! — he faints! 

Louis. Reign, Richelieu ! 

Rich, [feebly]. With absolute power ? — 

Louis. Most absolute ! — Oh, live ! 
If not for me — for France ! 

Rich. France ! 

Louis. h ! this treason ! 
The army — Orleans — Bouillon — Heavens ! the 

Spaniard ! , 

Where will they be next week ? 

Rich, [starting up]. There, — at my feet ! 



[To First and Second Secretaries]. Ere the 
clock strike ! — The envoys have their an- 
swer ! 
[To Third Secretary, with a ring.] This to De 

Chavigny — he knows the rest — 
No need of parchment here — he must not halt 
For sleep — for food. — In my name, — mine — he 

will 
Arrest the Due de Bouillon at the head 
Of his army ! — Ho ! there. Count de Baradas, 
Thou hast lost the stake ! — Away with him !* 
[Baradas draws — attempts to rush out — is arrested. 
Ha !— ha !— . 

[Snatching De Mauprafs death warrant froin 
the Officer. 
See here, De Mauprat's death-writ, Julie ! — 
Parchment for battledores ! —Embrace your hus- 
band ! 
At last the old man blesses you ! 

Julie. joy ! 
You are saved, you live — I ' hold you in these 
arms. 
De Maup. Never to part — 
Julie. No — never. Adrien — never ! 
Louis, [peevishly]. One moment makes a start- 
ling cure, Lord Cardinal, f 
Rich. Ay, Sire, for in that moment there did 
pass 
Into this wither'd frame the might of France ! — 
My own dear France — I have thee yet — I have 

saved thee ! 
I clasp thee still !— it was thy voice that caU'd 

me 
Back from the tomb ! What mistress like our 
country 1 
Louis. For Mauprat's pardon !— well ! But 
Julie, — Richelieu ! 
Leave me one thing to love ! 
Rich. A subject's luxury ! 
Yet, if you must love something. Sire, — love me ? 
Louis, [smiling in spite of himself ] Fair proxy 

for a young fresh Demoiselle ! 
Rich. Your heart speaks for my clients: — 
kneel, my children, 
And thank your king — 

Julie. Ah, tears like these, my liege. 
Are dews that mount to Heaven. 
Louis. Rise — rise — be happy. 

[Richelieu looks at De Beringhen. 
De Ber. [falteringly]. My lord — you are most 

happily recover'd. 
Rich. But you are pale, dear Beringhen :- 
this air 



* The passion of the drama requires this catastrophe for 
Baradas. He, however, survived his disgrace, though 
stripped of all his rapidly-acquired fortunes^^and the dar- 
ing that belonged to his character won him distinction 
in foreign service. He returned to France after Riche- 
lieu's death, but never regained the same court influ- 
ence. He had taken the vows of a Knight of Malta, and 
Loms made him a Prior. 

t The sudden resuscitation of Richelieu (not to strain too 
much on the real passion which supports him in this scene) 
is in conformance with the more dissimulating part of his 
character. The extraordinary mobility of his countenance 
(latterly so deathlike, save when the mind spoke in '.he 
features), always lent itself to stage effect of this naiure. 
The queen mother said of him, that she had seen him one 
moment so feeble, cast down, and " semi-mort," that he 
seemed on the point of giving up the ghost — and t#e next 
moment he would start up full of animation, energy, and 
life. 



RICHELIEU: OR, THE CONSPIRACY. 



33 



Suits not yoiir delicate frame— I long have 
tlioiight so, 

Sleep not another night in Paris : — Go, 

Or eJHo your precious life may be in danger. 
Leave l-'runce, dear Beringhen ! 

l>e Bi'*: 1 shall have time, 
More than I aak'd for, to discuss the pate, [Exit. 

lilrh. [to Or/mnx]. For you, repentance— ab- 
sence and confession ! 

[To Francois]. Never say /a/7 again. Brave 
boy I 

[ToJoscpIil He'll be— 
\ Bishop first. 

Joseph. Ah, Cardinal— 

Ji/ch. Ah, Joseph. 

[To Louis, as I)f Maupral and Julie converse 

apart. 

4ee, my liege— see thro' plots and counterplots— 

rhro* gain and loss— thro" glory and disgrace— 

llong the plains, where passionate Discord rears 



Eternal Babel— still the holy stream 
Of human happiness glides on ! 

Ijouis. And must we 
Thank for that al>o— our prime minister. 

Rich. No— let us owi it :— there is One above 
Sways the liarmonious mystery of the world 
Ev'n better than prime ministers 
Alas ! 

Our glories float between the earth and heaven 
Like clouds that seem pavilions of the sun, 
And are the playthings of the casual wind ; 
Still, like the cloud which drops on unseen crags 
The dews the wild flower feeds on, our ambition 
May from its airy height drop gladness down 
On unsuspected virtue ; and the flower 
May bless the cloud when it hath pass'd away.* 



* The image and the sentiment in the concludinir lines 
are borrowed from a passage lu one of the writings attrib- 
uted to the Cardinal, 



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